Grace College Athletics

COLUMBIA, Mo. - Grace's women's soccer team kicked off its much-anticipated season in the most thrilling way possible.

The No. 12 Lancers scored in the 80th minute, toppling No. 4 Oklahoma Wesleyan 1-0 in the 2026 season opener.

Nora Pollock provided the winning goal to upset last year's NAIA national semifinalist. 

Saturday's match, played at neutral-site Columbia College, was a battle of possession. The match contained just eight combined shots. Grace owned six of those eight shots, outshooting OKWU 6-2 throughout the 90-minute affair.

The first 15 minutes saw each side test out the opposition in the top-12 clash.

The opening shot of the match came 13 minutes after kickoff – an attempt from the Eagles that was saved by Ivy Cline. That proved to be the only shot on goal that OKWU recorded for the entire match.

Pollock tried a shot 15 minutes into the match, and Rylee Burns's attempt went wide 10 minutes later.

Over the final 18 minutes of the half, Rosalie Gefrorer fired off a pair of shots that missed wide of the frame.

The match was scoreless at halftime; the Lancers owned a 4-1 advantage in shots over the opening 45 minutes.

Grace began the second half with two corner kick opportunities and a shot from Hollie Robinson, but the Lancers were unable to produce a goal from those early chances. The next shot, however, was the winner.

In the 80th minute, the match found its decisive moment. Hannah Medlin, Gefrorer and Abby Hodkin combined on an incisive advance along the left side of the field. Rylee Burns and Hodkin quickly connected to find Pollock in the penalty box, and Pollock sliced her shot past the goalkeeper.

OKWU could only generate one shot in response, an off-target attempt with 6:01 remaining. That shot was the Eagles' sole shot attempt of the second half.

Grace secured the season-opening shutout as Ivy Cline needed to record just one save. She was protected well by the defense of Robinson, Jaylin Young, Heidi Kever and Medlin.

The Lancers begin a four-game homestand next week. Wednesday marks Grace's home opener with a 7 p.m. clash against Indiana Tech at 1st Source Bank Field. Grace stays home three days after that with a Saturday match against Northwestern Ohio.