CHICKASHA, Okla. --- The Wayland Baptist men's soccer team has played 11 games thus far in the 2011 season and six of those have gone into overtime. On Thursday afternoon, the Pioneer men lost for the first time in those six extended games, falling 2-1 in double overtime to #24 University of Science & Arts of Oklahoma.
"We fought really hard this afternoon," said Jamath Shoffner, head of the men's soccer program at WBU. "We led most of the match. Now that we know that we should have beaten the #24 team in the country, it will hopefully give us the confidence the rest of the season to grind out some more wins."
Freshman forward Jevaughn Vance put the Pioneers on the scoreboard first off an assist from Colt Welch early in the game's 15th minute. Vance's shot was one of five in the contest for the Pioneers, and four of those came from the Trinidad & Tobago native.
WBU goalkeeper John Ramses Thomas was kept busy on the other end, however. The freshman from Trinidad & Tobago faced 30 shots, making saves on eight.
USAO's John Gardner finally got a shot past Thomas at the 82:17 mark. The gamewinner came just 34 seconds into the final OT period when Jean Gnapi scored an unassisted goal to keep the Drovers undefeated in conference action at 5-0 and move them to 9-3 overall.
Wayland drops to 5-6 overall and 2-3 in SAC play. The WBU soccer teams next take on Mid-America Christian University on Saturday afternoon in Oklahoma City.
