Box Score Losing's never easy, and losing the Wayland Baptist men's soccer team did – on a controversial goal late in the match in a do-or-die situation to end the season – is especially tough.
Martin Gonzalez scored twice for John Brown – the last time on a goal with 5½ minutes left that hit the crossbar and that the Pioneers disputed – to lift the Golden Eagles to a 2-1 victory over Wayland on a brisk Saturday night at J.V. Hilliard Field in the first round of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.
"We have the video, the ball never went in," Wayland coach
Cristhian Ospina said of the winning goal.
"But there's nothing we can do about it."
Ospina said the game officials contradicted each other about whether the ball crossed the goal line after hitting the crossbar and just before bouncing into the field of play untouched.
"They were confused. One was saying it wasn't a goal and one was saying it was," Ospina said.
The Pioneers never got a shot off after that.
"Our guys played really well, and it's not fair for them to lose like that," Ospina added. "That's not taking any credit away from the other team. They're a really good team."
Wayland, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, ends its season with an 11-6-1 record while No. 6 seed John Brown (9-6-2) advances to the semifinals to face second-seeded and 25
th-ranked Science and Arts of Oklahoma (15-3), which drummed Oklahoma Baptist, 5-0. Other first-round results had Texas Wesleyan taking out Southwestern Christian, 2-1, and Oklahoma City edging Mid-America Christian by the same score, 2-1.
It's the second straight season Wayland was eliminated from the post-season with a home loss in the first round of the conference tournament.
"I think we should have gone farther," Ospina said, adding that he felt the Pioneers were one of the best teams in the conference.
It also was Wayland's second straight 2-1 home loss to John Brown, which defeated the Pioneers by that count in overtime when they met here on Oct. 18.
The Pioneers didn't have their leading scorer,
David Neuberth, in that match three weeks ago, and the senior made his presence felt by putting Wayland up 1-0 some 20½ minutes in.
Hakeem Milson rifled a low and hard line drive from the left side that appeared to be headed out of bounds, but Neuberth fought off a defender and expertly headed it into the left corner for his ninth – and final – goal of the year.
The Golden Eagles tallied the equalizer 4½ minutes before the end of the half when Gonzalez's shot from 25 yards out got past WBU goalkeeper
John-Ramses Thomas in the top right corner.
That was the fifth goal of the year for Gonzalez, and his sixth spelled doom for the Pioneers.
Besides the game-winner, Ospina also took issue with a play in the first half when the coach said the ball "clearly hit one of their players" on a handball, but it was called against Wayland. Shortly after that, John Brown scored.
Still, Ospina said he is proud of the Pioneers.
"Both teams played really well," he said. "I'm disappointed in the result, but I'm really proud of the guys. They have to keep their head up."
