A statement win! 3-1 over #23 SCU

Box Score Not long before the Wayland Baptist men's soccer team took the field against Southwestern Christian here Tuesday evening, a new NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll was released showing the Pioneers had slipped out of the rankings and the Eagles had moved in.
 
Another rankings reversal likely awaits next week after Wayland put a solid 3-1 thrashing on the 23rd-ranked Eagles at Hilliard Field.
 
"I guess the guys were a little bit mad about it," WBU coach Cristhian Ospina said of the Pioneers' fall from No. 21 to the equivalent of No. 26 following their 1-0 road loss Saturday to Science and Arts of Oklahoma. That setback ended Wayland's program-record 10-match unbeaten streak, which included eight straight wins.
 
Southwestern Christian (12-3, 6-1 SAC) came to town atop the Sooner Athletic Conference standings, and the second-place Pioneers (11-2-1, 5-1-1) knew they had to win in order to have a shot at defending their conference title.
 
"We treated this game as a final. We knew if we lost this game we had no chance of winning (the SAC regular-season championship)," Ospina said. "We gave away two games already, so this game was all or nothing. That's how we played."
 
The Pioneers controlled the match even more than the score showed, outshooting the Eagles 25-8 including 14-3 in shots on-goal. Lochlan Reus led WBU in attempts with six.
 
"I felt we dominated from the beginning to the end," Ospina said. "The guys played really well and rose to the challenge. I was really glad to see that."
 
After just missing on a couple of prime scoring chances early, Wayland's James Westfield went to work and scored a pair of goals, his fifth and sixth of the season. The first, with an assist by Raheem Fleming who had just entered the match, came in the 21^st minute on a tough-angle kick that got past SCU keeper Caleb Swanepoel. Some 7½ minutes into the second half, Westfield made it 2-0 on a goal that come after multiple rebounds in a jumbled box.
 
The Pioneers' final goal, in the 67^th minute, was the second of the season for Alex Castillo, who after being fed by Luis Almeida was able to beat the Eagle keeper after he came out to defend.
 
"Not being able to score at USAO (it was Wayland's first shutout since a 0-0 double-overtime tie with USAO last season) gave the guys a little bit more motivation," Ospina said. "They were pretty good goals."
 
SCU avoided what would have been Wayland's eighth shutout victory with an on-goal in the 82^nd minute. It followed a free kick from 40 yards out that wound up being knocked in by the Pioneers, costing Ziggy Camejo his fourth shutout.
 
Ospina said it was good to see the Pioneers finish after being unable to do that last Saturday when Wayland outshot the Drovers, 19-7.
 
"We had a lot of chances against USAO and couldn't put it away. Today we did the opposite, and that's why we ended up with a win," the coach said. "It seems the times we played really good teams, like John Brown (which WBU defeated 4-0), we gave them a pretty good beating. That says a lot about the team, but we have to be able to be consistent.
 
"For the most part I'm happy with the performance of all the team. The guys were playing for something. First, we needed to beat them. Now we have to win everything from now on and hope (SCU) gets a tie or one more loss."
 
The Pioneers have three remaining regular-season matches, starting at 4 p.m. next Tuesday at home against St. Gregory's (3-8-2, 1-5-0) in what will be Senior Day for Wayland. The Pioneers end up on the road against Texas Wesleyan (4-8-1, 2-4-1) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (1-9-1, 0-5-1).
 
SCU's final three matches come at home against Mid-America Christian (9-3-1, 3-2-1), at Bacone (7-5-1, 2-3-1) and at John Brown (7-5-1, 3-2-1).
 
The regular-season winner is the No. 1 seed for the tournament and earns the right to host throughout the conference tournament.
 
"We're just taking one game at a time," Ospina said.