Box Score WAXAHACHIE – After suffering its first loss in eight matches on Thursday, the Wayland Baptist men's soccer team was able to regroup and get back to its winning ways on Saturday afternoon. The No. 10 Pioneers defeated Southwestern Assemblies of God University, 3-0, regaining sole possession of first place in the Sooner Athletic Conference standings.
Wayland (9-2-1, 4-1 SAC) found itself in a familiar place after lightning delayed the match just 15 minutes in. On Sept. 27, the Pioneers played Mid-America Christian in their first SAC outing of the season, and 25 minutes into that match both teams headed to the locker room because of lightning. When play resumed, Wayland came out on all cylinders, scoring five goals in a 6-0 rout of the Evangels.
Saturday's match did not see quite the same offensive power after the lightning delay, but the Pioneers were able to score three goals while shutting out the Lions for the remainder of the match. As he was back in September, WBU head coach
Jamath Shoffner was pleased with the way his team responded to the delay.
"Again, our guys responded with maturity," Shoffner said. "They didn't let the delay faze them and they came out hard before the half ended."
Wayland's first goal came when junior
Mamadou Sanon headed the ball to
Juan Sanchez, who passed to
David Neuberth, who was able to put the ball in the bottom right corner of the net. Neuberth's team-high seventh goal of the year gave WBU a 1-0 lead going into halftime.
After the break, Shoffner said Wayland continued to put the pressure on the Lions (3-8, 0-3).
"In the second half we kept pushing the tempo and didn't let our foot off the gas pedal," he said.
The Pioneers' second goal came when
Javier Parry and
Erik Luzanilla played a nice double-pass to beat the Lions' keeper. Luzanilla returned a pass from Parry at the 18-yard marker, and Parry calmly placed the ball in the left corner of the goal, giving WBU a 2-0 lead.
Wayland didn't stop there, however, as Luzanilla and Sanchez assisted
Vitalis Atemafac on a similar play.
Luzanilla passed the ball to Sanchez, who passed it to Atemafac. Atemafac curled the shot with his left foot into the upper-90, giving the Pioneers a
3-0 lead.
WBU then held on to its comfortable lead, shutting out SAGU and taking home their seventh shutout of the season.
When asked what the difference was between the Pioneers' 1-0 loss to Northwood on Thursday and their win on Saturday, Shoffner quickly answered "mentality."
"Our mentality was different," he said. "Thursday's game was a total mentality issue. Today, it was tough coming off a loss to Northwood, but our players were motivated and they knew what needed to be done to get the job done.
"After a tough loss our guys responded well. We had a good team meeting after Thursday's game and we regrouped. Hopefully, we won't take any team that we play for granted."
Although no loss is a good loss, Shoffner said Thursday's misstep may end up helping his squad in the long run.
"That loss helped us regroup and refocus," he said. "If we can use it as a positive and as a learning experience, I think we can have success going forward."
Wayland returns home to take on St. Gregory's (5-4-1, 1-2-1) at 5 p.m. Tuesday at J.V. Hilliard Field.
