As well as
Cristhian Ospina's interim head coaching campaign has gone thus far – regardless of the NAIA Top 25 poll – he knows the real work lies ahead of the Wayland Baptist men's soccer team.
"I feel it's gone well. I'm happy," Ospina said midway through the Pioneers' season and on the eve of the start of Sooner Athletic Conference play. "We're winning."
Indeed they are. After winning their season-opener over University of the Southwest, the Pioneers (6-2) dropped a pair of tight 1-0 decisions in Montgomery, Ala., to defending national champion Auburn Montgomery, then ranked No. 2 and now No. 5, and to current No. 24 Belhaven, Miss. Since those setbacks, Wayland has reeled off five victories in a row by a combined score of 19-2.
For the season, the Pioneers have outscored opponents, 23-4.
"It's gone about how I thought it would," Ospina said in reviewing the season. "Mostly we were expecting that."
As good as the coach feels about his team to this point, though, he knows what the Pioneers have produced up to now won't matter if they don't keep it up in conference play.
"We'll see in conference how we do. That will let us know where we stand," Ospina said. "Conference is where you get to see if you're really doing a good job or not.
"We haven't played a team that has really exposed our weaknesses, besides (Auburn Montgomery and Belhaven). Conference is totally different. All the teams are really competitive; almost every team is really, really good. Conference is a lot harder than these games we've been playing."
The Pioneers kick off SAC play at 7 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma City University. The Stars have gotten off to a somewhat rocky start, going 1-3-1. OCU's lone win was a 4-3 decision over Southern Nazarene while the Stars tied Our Lady of the Lake, 1-1 in double overtime. Oklahoma City's losses have been to Houston-Victoria and University of Texas-Tyler, both by 1-0 counts, and most recently on Sept. 20 to 11
th-ranked MidAmerica Nazarene, 4-1.
After OCU, a team Wayland defeated last year, 1-0, for the first time in five meetings, the Pioneers return home to host the team favored to win the conference for the fourth straight year, 19
th-ranked Science and Arts of Oklahoma (7-1), at 3 p.m. Tuesday.
Ospina said the Pioneers are guarding against looking ahead to the match against the Drovers.
"Obviously, USAO is the team to beat. They're the only (SAC) team that is ranked in the Top 25," he said. "But we're taking it one game at a time."
Some felt Wayland might join USAO in the Top 25 given their early-season success. But after being ranked the equivalent of 35
th in the preseason poll, the Pioneers did not receive any Top 25 votes when the first regular-season poll was released earlier this week.
"I'm fine with that," Ospina said. "We're really young, so I know they don't respect us. The only way for us to prove ourselves is to win everything from now on."
That won't be easy, of course, although the schedule might tend to favor Wayland a bit as the Pioneers get to host the two teams, USAO and Southwestern Christian (6-0-1), that figure to challenge them the most for a conference championship. Wayland entertains Southwestern Christian in its final regular-season match on Oct. 31.
Ospina feels his team has what it takes to get the job done and win their next nine matches.
"All the (returning players) will be OK with that (pressure), and I'm pretty sure the new guys can handle it. We'll see," he said. "I do know we've been practicing really hard because we know what's ahead.
"We just have to keep working hard and maintain our same work ethic through the whole season. We've improved a lot with that already."
If the Pioneers continue working hard, Ospina said winning will take care of itself, just like it has up to now.
"It's good to be winning so the guys have some confidence, but we haven't proved anything yet," the coach said. "We still have a lot to prove."
