Men's soccer hungry for more

As much as the Wayland Baptist men's soccer team has accomplished already this season, Coach Cristhian Ospina and the Pioneers want more.
 
Having secured the Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season title for the first time in the eight-year history of the program, the Pioneers now have their sights set on securing the SAC Tournament crown and its accompanying invitation to the NAIA National Championships.
 
To get it, the top-seeded Pioneers (12-3-2), ranked the equivalent of 28^th in the NAIA, must win three more matches in the conference tournament, beginning with a 5 p.m. contest Saturday at Hilliard Field against eighth-seeded Mid-America Christian University (4-12).
 
"They know this is what we play for – the tournament and the playoffs," Ospina said. "Whoever wins stay, whoever loses goes home." In that sense, he added, "All of these games are finals."
 
Wayland originally was scheduled to play Southwestern Assemblies of God in the opening round, but that changed Wednesday evening after Southwestern Christian was forced to forfeit two wins – including one against Wayland – that altered the seedings and tournament bracket.
 
Besides giving Wayland the outright title instead of being co-champions with No. 18 John Brown, SAGU was left out of the tournament while MACU, which was not included in the original draw, took SAGU's spot as the final seed.
 
While happy his team was declared outright regular-season conference champs for the first time, Ospina said other ramifications of the late changes were disappointing
 
"It's frustrating because you're getting ready the whole week for one team, then they change it at the last minute, so basically we lost two or three days of practice," the coach said.
 
On the other hand, Ospina said ultimately who the Pioneers face doesn't really matter any way.
 
"We just keep doing our thing," he said. "We don't really adapt to the other team, we let them adapt to us and just keep playing our game."
 
Wayland, which is unbeaten in its last 11 outings (10 wins and a tie), defeated MACU on Oct. 14 in Oklahoma City, 6-1. The match was tied 1-1 in the 37^th minute, but the Pioneers scored five unanswered goals, including two by Taval Whittaker.
 
If the Pioneers defeat the Evangels, they will take on either fourth-seeded Oklahoma City University (11-5-1, 5-3-1) or fifth-seeded Southwestern Christian (10-5-2, 4-3-2) in the semifinals Tuesday.
 
Ospina said Southwestern Christian moving from a No. 3 seed to a No. 5 seed definitely makes the road more difficult for Wayland. The Eagles are ranked the equivalent of 37^th in the NAIA.
 
"This put us in a situation where it will be a little bit tougher. But if that's what we have to do to win, we'll do it. The guys are ready for the challenge," he said. "Right now we're concentrating on MACU. After that we'll see who's next."
 
The SAC Tournament championship will be played Saturday, Nov. 12 at the site of the highest remaining seed, which would be Wayland if the Pioneers are still alive.
 
Ospina likes his team's chances and said the team needs to take care of business over the next 10 days in order to make all of their hard work pay off.
 
"What they've done in conference is great for them and for the program. It's a great thing that we accomplished all of that. But I think we need to win these games to make it all worth it. All of that practice and work will mean nothing if we lose.
 
"We won the (regular-season conference title), now we want to win the tournament and hopefully go to the (national) tournament. We're on the right path, we just need to keep it going.
 
"The most important thing," he added, "is to stay humble."