Hoping to win and boost their chances of hosting a first-round match in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament, instead the Wayland Baptist women's soccer team suffered a head-scratching 4-1 loss to Southwestern Christian
on Tuesday evening at Hilliard Field.
"The results speak volumes. We came out flat and couldn't find a rhythm. Southwestern Christian played a very physical game and it set us on our heels. They moved the ball well and outworked us, especially in the first half," Wayland coach
Shiloh Posey said.
The Eagles (5-8, 4-4 SAC) took only four first-half shots, but they scored on three of them. The first was smartly saved by Wayland keeper
Maci Merket, but the next three found their mark – the final two by Megan Deshazo – as the visitors from Bethany, Okla., took a shocking 3-0 lead in the first 21 minutes of the match.
The Eagles struck again early in the second half, making it 4-0 just over three minutes after halftime.
Wayland scored its lone goal in the 60
th minute when senior
Taylor Moore accepted a double-pass from
Natalie Terry and
Megan Attenborough and was able to score from 20 yards away.
But that was the only noise the Pioneers made, although it wasn't due to a lack of trying. Wayland took 24 shots – exactly twice as many as the Eagles. Sixteen of Wayland's shots were on-goal, compared to nine for SCU. Eagles senior goalkeeper Ashlynn Haylett was brilliant most of the evening, recording 15 saves.
"Overall, we outshot them 2:1 in each half, but we only had a 4 percent success rate. It's hard to win when you don't make your opportunities count," Posey said.
Moore fired 11 shots, all but two of which were on-target.
Wayland (6-3-2, 3-2-1 SAC), which suddenly finds itself in seventh place in the conference standings, plays its final home regular-season match – before road games against Texas Wesleyan and 10
th-ranked Science & Arts of Oklahoma –
at 1 p.m. Saturday against Oklahoma City (8-6, 4-2), which hosted Mid-America Christian on Tuesday.
"Hopefully this is a huge wake-up call and we can regroup for Saturday's match with OCU," Posey said. "It's Senior Day and our last regular-season home game. Those factors, along with the memory of tonight, should be high motivation to come with everything we have.
"My hope and anticipation is to see the team that we've been – the one that competes hard and refuses to quit – the rest of the week's practices, and Saturday's match will show us."
