OKLAHOMA CITY – For what it's worth, the Wayland Baptist women's soccer team recorded yet another moral victory here Tuesday. Moral victories, though, aren't going to get the Pioneers what they want: a post-season match at Hilliard Field.
Oklahoma City University, ranked the equivalent of 32
nd in the NAIA, scored the lone goal with 14:20 left in the Sooner Athletic Conference contest and escaped with a 1-0 victory over the Pioneers.
"Overall the effort was pretty solid. Sometimes our execution lacked a little," WBU coach
Shiloh Posey said.
The goal for the Stars (7-2-2, 3-1-1 SAC) came on a header just outside the goalie box by Natalie Eley, with a double-assist by Rebekah Brantley and Bailey Webb.
"We gave them too much time to serve the ball," Posey explained. "Another player ran across the box and got a header, and the ball looped over our goalkeeper."
Wayland (8-5-1, 3-3-0) had several chances to score, including one near-goal by
Kayla Ortiz in the first half that saw the ball hit the crossbar and come out.
"We had three or four others from longer range that didn't have enough steam on them to get there," Posey said.
After outshooting OCU in the first half, 5-3, Wayland was outshot after intermission, 12-0. All of the Pioneers' attempts – four by
Taylor Moore and one by Jennika Appleberg – were on-goal.
"There are things we can do all over the field to improve, but we have to get the offensive side of the ball moving," Posey said. "For the most part we defend well, but you can only defend for so long. We have to help ourselves by getting some offensive output.
"We need for us to determine the outcome rather than leaving it to chance."
It was Wayland's third straight one-goal loss, having previously fallen to No. 7 John Brown, 1-0, and to a solid Central Christian team, 3-2. Much like JBU, a team the Pioneers have never beaten in 14 tries, OCU has dominated the series with Wayland (now 15-2). So, the fact that Posey's team played the Stars so closely is encouraging.
Still, the Pioneers want, and need, more in order to finish in the top four of the SAC standings and host a first-round tournament match.
Wayland is off this weekend when the Pioneers were originally scheduled to host Bacone, which is not fielding a women's team. So, WBU 's next contest comes at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 23 against No. 16 Science & Arts of Oklahoma (11-3, 3-1). It will be Senior Day for Juliana Montgomery and
Audrey Sierra-Bogan.
"We have a week to work things out. There are some minor things that might not be big issues, but when several of those come together then what's created is an issue that you realize needs to be worked on," Posey said.
"We have to reset our mind and learn from the lessons of this game and put those into practice against USAO next Tuesday. We still have two games left in the regular-season (WBU plays at Southwestern Christian Oct. 27) and we can still finish strong.
"Our goal is to play a home playoff game. We've put ourselves a little bit behind the 8-ball, but we still have the opportunity to get that done. It's up to us to determine how we finish that."
