WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- No. 24 Midwestern State got a game challenge from Southern Nazarene Friday night at the MSU Soccer Field before coming away with a 3-1 result.

"When people come here, they know what they have to do to win," MSU coach Doug Elder said. "They played their best game. They played hard by packing it in and countering. I thought the coach had a good game plan."

The Mustangs claimed their third-straight win to improve to 6-1-2 and will play host to Northeastern State Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Riverhawks are coming off of a 1-0 loss at Incarnate Word Friday night in San Antonio.

Sophomore forward Len Smith struck first for MSU when he gathered in a redirected cross off of Southern Nazarene goalkeeper Blake Anderson and blasted it into the net in the 30th minute.

Despite a 20-8 edge in shots for Midwestern in the opening half, the Crimson Storm knotted the match at 1-1 heading into intermission on the strength of Azia Tapsoba's third goal of the season in the 32nd minute.

The Mustangs kept battling in the second half scoring consecutive goals in the 64th minute to put away the match.

"We could have gotten frustrated in the second half after 20 shots and then let them equalize," Elder said. "Just thinking we'd let them score and we might end up with a tie here, but we kept our composure."

Junior forward VcMor Eligwe volleyed in a shot off of Andrew Power's offer off of a corner kick in the 64th minute to allow the Mustangs to reestablish a 2-1 edge.

Thirty seconds later, Power converted on a nice combination of passes in the box to push the lead to two goals with an assist from senior defender Fernando Garza.

"We kept going at them and we showed a little bit of maturity," Elder said. "It's not as much leadership as I want yet but some maturity. We didn't panic and we played hard."

Southern Nazarene fell to 1-11 on the season.

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