WAXAHACHIE –
James Westfield scored twice – including the game-winner in overtime – as the Wayland Baptist men's soccer team escaped with a 2-1 victory over Southwestern Assemblies of God University here Tuesday afternoon.
While WBU coach
Robert Ssejjemba felt his team worked harder for the win than it needed, "At the end of the day it was a good team win because at this stage in the season, every game is tough, especially when you play away."
The victory came on the heels of the Pioneers' first loss of the season a week earlier at home to No. 23 Mid-America Christian, 2-1. Wayland improved to 6-1-2 on the season and 2-1 in Sooner Athletic Conference play. SAGU fell to 1-6-1, 1-2.
Junior
Lucas Travis, making his first start of the season, set up the first goal of the game in the 17
th minute when he crossed the ball into the box from the right wing and Westfield volleyed it home.
"It was good to have Lucas back and going through a full game without any problems," Ssejjemba said.
SAGU tied the game in the 77
th minute to force Wayland's second overtime of the season; the first ended with a scoreless double-OT tie with Our Lady of the Lake.
Westfield scored the golden goal 4½ minutes into the first extra period after
Santiago Pereyra put him through one-on-one with the SAGU goalkeeper. Westfield placed the ball low on the near post to beat the keeper for his ninth goal of the season, which ranks third in the SAC.
In his third season with the Pioneers, Westfield now has 29 career goals as he extended his program record.
Taval Whittaker held the old record of 23 from 2014-16. It was Westfield's eighth career multi-goal match, half of which have come in his last six outings.
"It was a tricky game for us. I think we made things harder on ourselves when we failed to kill off the game in regular time. We missed many opportunities and SAGU grew into the game, causing a lot of problems for us," Ssejjemba said.
Westfield took a career-high nine shots, three more than his previous high earlier this season. All but two of Westfield's shots were on-goal.
As a team, Wayland fired 28 shots, compared to 16 for the Lions. The Pioneers led in shots on-goal, 11-6.
The Pioneers are back at home Saturday to host Central Christian (Kan.) at 3 p.m., prior to the women's game at 5 as the teams swap normal starting positions.
The Tigers, who play at Southwestern Christian on Wednesday, are 4-5-1 on the season and 0-2 in the conference, having fallen at John Brown, 3-0, and at home to No. 21 Mid-America Christian, 2-0.
Wayland is 3-0 all-time against Central Christian, winning last season, 6-0. The Pioneers defeated the Tigers twice in 2017, 2-1 and 5-0.
