Soccer teams on familiar ground for start of Sooner Athletic Conference Championships

SAC Tournament Page

The Sooner Athletic Conference soccer tournaments will begin at very familiar sites for both Wayland Baptist teams this weekend.

The Pioneer men will get to play its quarterfinal match against Southwestern Christian on their home pitch, Hilliard Field, while the WBU women will be headed back to their home-away-from-home, Siloam Springs, Ark., to face John Brown University.

For the fifth time in the past seven seasons, Wayland's women's team will play a conference tournament match at John Brown University. The meeting between the seventh-seeded Pioneers (6-6-2) and second-seeded, 13^th-ranked Golden Eagles (12-3-2) will be played at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Coach Shiloh Posey's teams haven't won any of those four prior matches. In fact, the Pioneers are still searching for their first-ever victory over the Golden Eagles, who lead the all-time series 15-0-3. That includes a 3-0 decision when WBU faced then No. 8 JBU in Siloam Springs on Oct. 19.

JBU owns conference tournament quarterfinal wins over Wayland of 4-0 in 2017, 7-0 in 2016 and 3-0 in 2014. In 2013, the teams played to a 2-2 tie in a semifinal pairing before JBU prevailed in a shootout, 4-3.

The conference tournament champion advances to the NAIA Championships. The NAIA Championship Opening Round will be Nov. 22 and 23 on campus sites with the NAIA Championships happening Dec. 2-7 in Orange Beach, Ala.

On the men's side, the Pioneers (9-3-3) secured the No. 4 seed and the right to host a first-round match with Tuesday's 3-1 road win over Texas Wesleyan in the regular-season finale.

Southwestern Christian (9-8) is the No. 5 seed.

Friday's 4 p.m. contest will be a rematch of an Oct. 23 match between the Pioneers and Eagles, won by Wayland, 4-1. Stefano Pesce, James Westfield, Lucas Travis and Erik Luzanilla scored goals for WBU.

Wayland owns a 5-2-4 series lead against Southwestern Christian, including a 2-0 victory in the SAC Tournament finals two years ago when the Pioneers went on to claim the NAIA national title.

WBU is 5-1-1 at Hilliard Field this season.

The WBU-SCU winner advances to play either top-seeded, regular-season champion John Brown (14-3) or eighth-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God (3-13-1) in the semifinals on Monday.

The tourney championship will be hosted by the highest-remaining seed on Thursday, Nov. 14.

The SAC Tournament champion secures a berth in the NAIA Championships. The NAIA Championship Opening Round will be Nov. 22-23 on campus sites around the country, then the NAIA Championships take place Dec. 2-7 in Irvine, Calif. Friday, Nov. 8 - Quarterfinals
No. 7 Texas Wesleyan (4-14) at No. 2 Mid-America Christian (14-2-1), 2 p.m.
No. 8 SW Assemblies of God (3-13-1) at No. 1 John Brown (14-3), 4 p.m.
No. 5 Southwestern Christian (9-8) at No. 4 Wayland Baptist (9-3-3), 4 p.m.
No. 6 Panhandle State (8-5-2) at No. 3 USAO (11-5-1), 7 p.m.
 
Monday, Nov. 11 - Semifinals
SCU-WBU winner vs. JBU-SAGU winner, TBD
OPSU-USAO winner vs. MACU-TXWES winner, TBD
 
Thursday, Nov. 14 - Championship
  Saturday, Nov. 9 - Quarterfinals
No. 5 Oklahoma City (9-8) at No. 4 Mid-America Christian (11-4-1), 2 p.m.
No. 8 Central Christian (7-10) at No. 1 USAO (17-1), 5 p.m.
No. 7 Wayland Baptist (6-6-2) at No. 2 John Brown (12-3-2), 5 p.m.
No. 6 Southwestern Christian (6-8-1) at No. 3 Texas Wesleyan (12-5), 7 p.m.
 
Tuesday, Nov. 12 - Semifinals
MACU-OCU winner vs. CCCK-USAO winner
SCU-TXWES winner vs. JBU-WBU winner
Friday, Nov. 15 - Finals
Semifinal winners