Box Score SAN ANTONIO -- The Wayland Baptist University women's soccer team suffered its first loss of the season here Saturday afternoon, falling on the road against a physical St. Mary's University team 3-1.
In addition to the sweltering heat and humidity a team from West Texas isn't accustomed to, the Pioneers took a while to get rolling against the NCAA Division II school. WBU head coach
Shiloh Posey said his squad had a rough first 45 minutes.
"We got knocked around pretty bad in the first half," he said. "They (St. Mary's) know a little more about the physical nature of the game and they brought it to us. In the second half, we were able to make a few changes to our formation and did a lot better job."
Wayland was down 1-0 going into halftime and allowed the Rattlers to score another goal early in the second half. Freshman
Jessica Bell gave the Pioneers a chance to get back in the game midway through the second half, scoring the team's only goal on a rebound off a corner kick. The score seemed to give the Pioneers some momentum, but another goal by St. Mary's shut the door on a WBU comeback.
"I can't say enough about how we played today and I think we learned some good lessons again today," Posey said. "We showed we can play with just about anybody. The scoreboard is a little unreflective of how the game went and I'm proud of how we did."
The loss was the team's first of the season, giving them a 2-1 record going into Monday's 12 p.m. contest against University of Houston-Victoria in Belton.
Minutes after Saturday's game, Posey already was coming up with a plan of attack for his team's next outing.
"We need to work on releasing the ball more quickly and want to have a faster start to our game," he said. "We're still working on our attack. The defense and midfield are coming together, but we have to finish on that final pass.
"We don't know a lot about Victoria but we're looking forward to this game. They've played several games in the last few days so they may be a little bit tired, which will play to our advantage. Of course, we aren't underestimating them and we're going to have to be prepared."
