Box Score
What's better than winning a first Sooner Athletic Conference regular-season championship? How about winning a Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship and earning a spot in the NAIA National Championships!
And what's even better than that? Doing it in back-to-back years.
Despite playing a man down for more than half the match, 23rd-ranked Wayland Baptist secured a 2-0 victory over Southwestern Christian on Thursday night at Hilliard Field to earn the conference tournament crown for the second straight year.
"The guys deserve that. They played really hard and played with their hearts," Wayland coach Cristhian Ospina said. "A lot of people are against us in a lot of ways. We've had a lot of adversity, but the guys made it happen the right way.
"I'm really happy for them."
After a scoreless first half with the second-seeded Eagles (16-4), ranked the equivalent of 28th in the NAIA, Wayland's James Westfield got the top-seeded Pioneers on the board in the 57th minute. After a high, long ball by Federico Ucar, Ricardo Ramos and SCU keeper Caleb Swanepoel got tangled up in the box and went to the ground. That left James Westfield alone with the ball, and the sophomore from Liverpool, England, rifled in a shot from 10 yards out.
It was Westfield's team-high 12th goal of the season.
The Pioneers picked up an insurance goal just before the 77th minute when Ucar headed in a goal off Lochlan Reus' corner kick. It was Ucar's fourth goal of the season and Reus' team-high seventh assist.
The Pioneer defense, anchored by keeper Ziggy Camejo, made the goals hold up, and now Wayland is off to the NAIA National Championships for the second straight season.
Because Hilliard Field does not meet requirements to host an NAIA National Championships match, Wayland will be on the road for its opening-round match, to be played Nov. 18. The Pioneers will find out where they're headed at noon Monday, Nov. 13 as part of an online selection show available free of charge at https://www.facebook.com/pg/PlayNAIA/events/
If Wayland wins Nov. 18, the Pioneers advance as one of 16 teams to Delray Beach, Fla., for a single-elimination tournament Nov. 27-Dec. 2.
Wayland (14-5-1) hopefully has a lot of soccer left and lots of work still to do, but for now Ospina and his team are relishing another conference crown.
"The guys showed a lot of heart. Playing almost the whole game with 10 guys is not easy. For a moment we got a little bit nervous because we had just 10 guys so early. Once we made it to the half and made the proper adjustments, we felt a little better."
The man-down resulted from a red card issued at the 37:37 mark, so the Pioneers survived 52 minutes, 23 seconds playing short-handed.
After the red card, Ospina said the Pioneers adjusted how they set the field.
"We had to be a little smarter with the way we pressed them," the coach said. "The guys were patient and made the most of their chances. They made it happen.
"Our defense also did a great job, being one-man down and the other team coming at them."
Wayland was credited with 18 shots, including three by Westfield. Somewhat surprisingly, the Pioneers took all but five of their shots while playing a man-down in the second half.
SCU ended with 11 shot attempts, but just three on-goal. The Pioneers had eight shots on-target.
Ospina credited Camejo with "a great save that kept us in the game" on the way to leading Wayland to its 11th shutout of the season and third in its last four outings.
"All that comes from having a goalkeeper coach," Ospina said of John-Ramses Thomas.
He went on to praise assistant Dean Johnson's recruiting skills and Miguel Teos' scouting and game preparation talents.
"This is a good group of guys who worked hard to get where they are now," the coach said. "This team plays together and the coaches work together well. Hopefully we can keep them together so we can keep doing the same things."
Â
