WEATHERFORD, Okla. - With three minutes left to play, Brianna Benitez had a free kick to give the SWOSU team their first lead of the game. She took the shot and it went into the goal. SWOSU defeated East Central 2-1 Saturday afternoon and gained their first conference win of the season.

"Brianna has a cracking foot," SWOSU coach Mark Persson said. "We have lots of girls who can strike the ball well and she got a hold of the ball. Not many keepers could have saved that shot and it was just a really well struck ball."

East Central nearly scored an early goal, but goalkeeper Ashley Hughes made two saves to keep the game tied at zero. Hughes had another save when it seemed East Central would score with 31 minutes left in the first half. 

East Central scored first off a cross with 12 minutes to go in the first half, making the score 1-0 and that also was the score at halftime.

Hughes had four saves in the first half. SWOSU struggled on offense, as they had no shots on goal and a corner. They attempted four shots and committed three fouls.  

SWOSU nearly scored a goal when Brenna McGuirk had a run, but East Central was there to stop it. Moments later, Claire Torrey took a shot, but it went just above the crossbar. SWOSU scored their first goal of the game off a free kick with 10 minutes to play in the game. 

Desiree Rodriguez kicked the ball into the box and Juliana Rocha scored off the header. With three minutes left, SWOSU had a golden opportunity to score when East Central committed a foul against Sola Tsuruta just outside the penalty box. Benitez took the shot and gave SWOSU the 2-1 advantage and their first conference win of the season.

"The second half showed who we are and what we are about as a team," Persson said. "Every game matters and we do not want to have to make up games later into conference play. We talked about this at halftime and knew we had to give everything we had in the second half. The girls rallied and kept fighting and fighting. We did not score early when we needed to, but their effort really showed and we finally got the goals and the free kick made by Brianna was great."

SWOSU had three shots on goal, but East Central had five shots on goal. Hughes had five saves. Each team had four corner kicks as well.

SWOSU improves to 3-4-1 and will play their next game, 3 p.m. Thursday at Ouachita Baptist University. Ouachita Baptist currently is in first place in the Great American Conference and has not lost a conference game yet.

Person said it will be a tough game and they can improve in lots of areas, but is happy with the girls' effort in winning the game against East Central.

"We will have to put in some tough work before we leave for Ouachita Baptist," Persson said. "It is not an easy place to play and we will have to show up. We are good enough to beat anyone in our conference if we show up and play. It will take a good week of practice, rest and great preparation to get the result we want."