Box Score OKLAHOMA CITY – Wayland Baptist and Mid-America Christian played to a scoreless standstill until the Lady Evangels pushed across two goals in the final 13 minutes to win 2-0 in Sooner Athletic Conference action here Friday afternoon.
Wayland (3-7-2, 2-3-0 SAC) played short-handed due to three starters being out – two for health reasons and another for classroom requirements. The Pioneers also played most of the match a player down after being hit with a red card less than 13 minutes into the first half.
"Our bench was pretty thin today, but the girls gave great effort and I couldn't be more pleased with what they did," said WBU coach
Shiloh Posey, who had a couple of substitutes at his disposal.
Both teams fired 10 shots on-goals, but the Lady Evangels (6-5-1, 3-2) were able to get two of theirs to go. Brittney Stephens' goal broke the scoreless tie in the 77
th minute, then Sophie Harris put in the insurance score with just 43 seconds left.
Posey said he repositioned one of his outside defenders in the final five minutes in an effort to generate some offense and get a goal. Unfortunately, it left the Pioneers vulnerable on the other end and MACU was able to take advantage and seal the victory.
It was Wayland's second shutout loss in a row, having fallen to USAO four days earlier in Plainview, 3-0. Meanwhile, it was MACU's second straight shutout victory, having blanked Bacone in its previous match, 4-0.
"The team movement and work ethic on the field, even after we had the player sent off, was really, really solid," Posey said. "There was a lot of good effort on all players' parts; there is no fault in that, for sure. It's just that our scoring opportunities were pretty limited. We did have a couple of chances but couldn't get that last pass in."
Wayland took 11 shots, all but one of which were on-goal.
Lupita Leyva and Jazmine Zarate fired three shots each to lead the Pioneers, with all of Leyva's on-target. Zarate and
Valeria Garcia had two shots on-goal apiece.
"We did all of the little things, but trying to come back from a man down was a little bit tough," Posey said. "The girls played really, really hard and played well overall."
Wayland's next match is 3 p.m. Tuesday at home against Bacone (1-8, 0-4) in what will be Senior Day for the Pioneers. WBU hosts No. 20 John Brown the following Saturday before ending the regular-season on the road against Southwestern Christian and Oklahoma City University.
Wayland currently is in sixth place in the SAC standings, a half-game behind OCU. The top eight teams in the 10-team league qualify for the conference tournament.
"If we do well the rest of the way we should be in," Posey said. "Teams 4-9 are pretty even, and on any given day anything can happen. We just have to take advantage of our opportunities."
