The No. 11 Wayland Baptist men's soccer team dropped a hard-fought Sooner Athletic Conference match against University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma on Tuesday night at Hilliard Field, 1-0.
The visiting Drovers, ranked the equivalent of 33
rd in the NAIA, scored the match's lone goal in the 59
th minute. Senya Gueye headed in the ball inside the penalty box after a free kick from 30 yards out by Brandon Kalu.
The loss on Senior Night when
Ricardo Ramos,
James Quinn,
Luis Almeida,
Molley Karpeh Jr.,
Alexis Castillo and
Ziggy Camejo were honored prior to kickoff ended a 16-match home winning streak for the Pioneers (11-3, 6-2 SAC) and lossened Wayland's grip on first place in the conference standings.
With just Saturday afternoon's match at Southwestern Christian to play in the regular-season, the two-time defending SAC champion Pioneers are in a virtual tie for first with No. 18 Southwestern Christian (13-2-1, 5-1-1) and USAO (11-3-2, 5-1-2). The Drovers can win the conference and coveted No. 1 seed with a win Friday at home over Central Christian (10-7, 2-6). Should USAO win Friday and Wayland win Saturday, the Drovers and Pioneers would tie for first, but USAO would get the top seed based on Tuesday's victory.
Southwestern Christian, meanwhile, follows its match against Wayland by playing at fourth-place Oklahoma City (10-3, 5-2) next Tuesday.
In winning its last five matches Wayland had outscored its opponents 19-0, but the Pioneers couldn't find the back of the net in what was a mostly-defensive, very physical contest. Actually, WBU's Jose Hincape did get a ball in the net in the 82
nd minute, but the Pioneers were ruled to be offsides. It was the only offsides against Wayland the entire evening.
The match featured few shots – nine total – but lots of cards – 14 combined. Wayland was hit with seven yellows and a red on head coach
Cristhian Ospina while USAO drew five yellows and a red on player Kieran Mitchell.
The match also saw two incidents between the teams, once late in the match and again after the final buzzer.
Wayland was hoping to avenge last season's 1-0 road loss to USAO, which marked one of just two on-field defeats for the 2017 national champions.
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2018 NAIA Men's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll - (Oct. 23)
| RANK |
LAST WEEK |
SCHOOL (FIRST-PLACE VOTES) |
RECORD |
POINTS |
| 1 |
1 |
William Carey (Miss.) (9) |
14-0-0 |
490 |
| 2 |
2 |
Oklahoma Wesleyan (8) |
14-1-0 |
489 |
| 3 |
3 |
Rio Grande (Ohio) (1) |
14-0-0 |
462 |
| 4 |
4 |
Hastings (Neb.) |
12-2-0 |
442 |
| 5 |
5 |
Central Methodist (Mo.) |
13-1-2 |
440 |
| 6 |
6 |
Bellevue (Neb.) |
13-0-2 |
415 |
| 7 |
8 |
Cardinal Stritch (Wis.) |
14-1-0 |
400 |
| 8 |
9 |
Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) |
10-2-1 |
375 |
| 9 |
7 |
Missouri Valley |
9-3-3 |
367 |
| 10 |
13 |
Vanguard (Calif.) |
10-3-1 |
350 |
| 11 |
11 |
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
11-2-0 |
347 |
| 12 |
14 |
Spring Arbor (Mich.) |
14-3-0 |
312 |
| 13 |
17 |
Baker (Kan.) |
12-4-0 |
299 |
| 14 |
19 |
Southern Oregon |
13-2-1 |
283 |
| 15 |
16 |
Bethel (Tenn.) |
12-3-1 |
278 |
| 16 |
10 |
Corban (Ore.) |
12-2-1 |
260 |
| 17 |
21 |
University of Northwestern Ohio |
12-2-2 |
239 |
| 18 |
NR |
William Penn (Iowa) |
13-3-0 |
186 |
| 19 |
12 |
Reinhardt (Ga.) |
10-2-2 |
182 |
| 20 |
24 |
Southeastern (Fla.) |
10-2-1 |
176 |
| 21 |
18 |
Southwestern Christian (Okla.) |
12-2-1 |
143 |
| 22 |
NR |
William Woods (Mo.) |
11-2-3 |
130 |
| 23 |
NR |
The Master's (Calif.) |
12-4-0 |
111 |
| 24 |
25 |
Benedictine (Kan.) |
9-4-3 |
110 |
| 25 |
23 |
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
11-3-0 |
106 |
|
|
|
|
|
Dropped out: MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.); Rocky Mountain (Mont.); Mobile (Ala.)
Receiving votes: MidAmerica Nazarene (Kan.) 94, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) 60, WVU Tech 58, Florida College 54, Marymount California 41, Mobile (Ala.) 31, Georgia Gwinnett 30, Arizona Christian 26, Madonna (Mich.) 23, Columbia (Mo.) 13, Kansas Wesleyan 11, Point (Ga.) 9, Houston-Victoria (Texas) 8, Grace (Ind.) 8, Science & Arts (Okla.) 7, Indiana Tech 4, Menlo (Calif.) 3, Cumberland (Tenn.) 3
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