Certainly coach
Cristhian Ospina would feel better if his Wayland Baptist men's soccer scored more than two goals over the course of 90 minutes, but two is plenty when your defense doesn't allow the opposing team any or, for that matter, to even shoot.
While outshooting Southwestern Assemblies of God University 26-0, Wayland got second-half goals from
Santiago Pereyra and
James Westfield as the Pioneers bounced back from a weekend set back and a drop to No. 12 in the NAIA rankings with a 2-0 victory over SAGU on Tuesday night at Hilliard Field.
Pereyra, a junior transfer from Argentina, scored his first goal as a Pioneer and ended a scoreless tie some 6½ minutes after halftime when he fielded a cross from
Ricardo Ramos that glided the face of the goal before Pereyra blasted it in from short range to make it 1-0.
The Pioneers (7-2, 2-1 SAC) spent the rest of the match playing incredible keep-away defense before getting an insurance goal just 14 seconds shy of the final buzzer when
James Westfield cleaned up a blocked shot from
Reece Harrison. It was the third goal of the season for Westfield, who led last year's national champions with 14.
Wayland never allowed the Lions (4-7-1, 1-2) to get off a clean shot. Of the Pioneers' 26 attempts, Ramos came off the bench to take nine while Westfield and
Chris Eduardo fired three apiece. Ten of WBU's attempts were on-goal, two each by Ramos, Westfield and Eduardo.
It was no doubt the easiest of Wayland goalkeeper
Ziggy Camejo's five shutouts this season.
Shortly before the Pioneers took the field the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 revealed the Pioneers had fallen from fourth to 12
th as a result of their 1-0 loss to Mid-America Christian on Saturday in Oklahoma City. MACU is now ranked the equivalent of 37
th in the poll that sees Southwestern Christian at No. 19 and USAO the equivalent of 27
th.
Next for the Pioneers is a trip to McPherson, Kan., where they'll face Central Christian (7-4, 0-3) at 5:30 Saturday. The Tigers lost at home Tuesday to Southwestern Christian (11-1, 3-0), 3-0. SCU sits atop the SAC standings with USAO (9-2, 3-0).
NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll - No. 5 (Oct. 2)
| Rk. |
Last Wk. |
School (1st-place votes) |
Record |
Points |
| 1 |
1 |
William Carey (Miss.) (11) |
9-0-0 |
492 |
| 2 |
2 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan (7) |
7-1-0 |
488 |
| 3 |
3 |
Mobile (Ala.) |
8-1-0 |
466 |
| 4 |
6 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
7-2-0 |
437 |
| 5 |
7 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) |
9-0-0 |
435 |
| 6 |
9 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
7-1-1 |
425 |
| 7 |
5 |
Missouri Valley |
6-2-1 |
391 |
| 8 |
11 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
11-0-2 |
383 |
| 9 |
8 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
9-1-1 |
361 |
| 10 |
10 |
Baker (Kan.) |
8-3-0 |
338 |
| 11 |
13 |
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
9-1-0 |
332 |
| 12 |
4 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
6-2-0 |
329 |
| 13 |
14 |
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
8-2-0 |
309 |
| 14 |
15 |
Reinhardt (Ga.) |
8-0-1 |
290 |
| 15 |
23 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
7-2-2 |
264 |
| 16 |
21 |
Menlo (Calif.) |
7-2-0 |
254 |
| 17 |
18 |
Corban (Ore.) |
8-1-1 |
242 |
| 18 |
19 |
MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) |
8-2-0 |
216 |
| 19 |
20 |
Southwestern Christian (Okla.) |
10-1-0 |
207 |
| 20 |
12 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
5-3-1 |
192 |
| 21 |
22 |
Spring Arbor (Mich.) |
8-3-0 |
170 |
| 22 |
24 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
8-1-1 |
163 |
| 23 |
16 |
Columbia (Mo.) |
5-3-1 |
153 |
| 24 |
25 |
Madonna (Mich.) |
8-2-0 |
121 |
| 25 |
17 |
Westmont (Calif.) |
5-3-2 |
107 |
Dropped from Top 25: Georgia Gwinnett
Others receiving votes: Georgia Gwinnett 65, Science & Arts (Okla.) 46; University of Northwestern Ohio 42, Southern Oregon 39, Keiser (Fla.) 36, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 26, Bethel (Tenn.) 14, Grace (Ind.) 13, WVU Tech 13, Marymount California 12, Tennessee Wesleyan 10, Northwestern (Iowa) 9, Mid-America Christian (Okla.) 9, The Master's (Calif.) 6, Arizona Christian 3, William Woods (Mo.) 3
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