The last time Wayland Baptist advanced in the post-season after going to a shootout, the Pioneers won a national title.
Maybe Friday's Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinal will prove to be a good omen.
After deadlocking 2-2 with Southwestern Christian at Hilliard Field, the Pioneers won a shootout, 3-1, to advance to semifinals of the conference tournament on Monday in Arkansas.
"The most important thing is that we won the game, so we will enjoy the win and refocus immediately for our next game at John Brown," WBU coach
Robert Ssejjemba said.
The fourth-seeded Pioneers (9-3-4) next take on the top-seeded, regular-season champion Golden Eagles (15-3), who defeated eighth-seeded Southwestern Assemblies of God, 3-2, in the only first-round matchup that didn't go to overtime. A time for the match, slated for Monday, has not been set. Ssejjemba said officials are contemplating moving the match, possibly to Sunday, due to weather concerns.
The Pioneers faced JBU, now ranked the equivalent of 29
th in the NAIA, in Siloam Springs on Oct. 19, falling 2-0.
The Wayland-John Brown winner qualifies for Thursday's championship to face either Mid-America Christian or Science & Arts of Oklahoma. MACU, seeded second and ranked the equivalent of 43
rd in the NAIA, defeated Texas Wesleyan, 3-2 in double-overtime, while third-seeded USAO took out Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 2-1 in OT.
All four higher-seeded, home teams won their matches.
The tournament champion automatically qualifies for the NAIA National Championships.
Against Southwestern Christian (9-8-1), a team Wayland beat 4-1 in Plainview on Oct. 22, the Pioneers assumed a 2-0 lead after goals by
Lucas Travis in the 41
st minute and by
Santiago Pereyra in the 66
th minute.
Travis' second goal of the season was assisted by
James Westfield, who punched in a pass inside the box where Travis made it count. Pereyra's seventh goal of the season came from 15 yards away after he stepped around a couple of defenders and got it past the diving SCU keeper.
The now-desperate Eagles answered in a hurry, getting their first goal five minutes after Wayland took its 2-0 lead. The visitors from Bethany, Okla., then tied it less than eight minutes after that with a header in the 79
th minute.
In the final 10 minutes of regulation, the Pioneers got off three shots – including on-goal attempts by
Tre Hinds and
Javier Perdomo – compared to one shot for the Eagles, which WBU keeper
Gonzalo Santa saved.
Wayland also outshot the Eagles in the two 10-minute overtimes, 3-1. No one got an official shot on-goal, but Pioneer
Luis Morin's header late in the first extra period hit off the crossbar before the Eagles were able to clear it.
In Wayland's first shootout since the Pioneers advanced in both the national quarterfinals and semifinal in 2017, WBU kicked first and held the upper-hand throughout, despite being without Westfield, the program's all-time leading scorer who went out with an injury in the 54
th minute.
Eric Luzanilla got WBU started on the right foot with a strong goal before Artur Gomes' first shot for SCU hit off the crossbar and bounced away.
The Pioneers' second shooter,
Stefano Pesce, was true, as was Victor Arias for the Eagles.
Wayland took a 3-1 lead when Pereyra rocketed in his kick, and Santo came up with the first save of the shootout, stopping Lenon Rosado's attempt with a hard dive to his right.
The Pioneers could have ended it but
Lucas Travis' shot was saved by SCU keeper Gerard Espinalt. Needing to connect on both of their final two shots, SCU failed on the first when Aidan Tait's try was stopped by Santa with another dive to his right.
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"We played well in the first half but we lacked a sense of urgency. In the second half we doubled our lead but then let Southwestern Christian back into the game. I think we made things hard on ourselves," Ssejjemba said.
Wayland outshot the Eagles, 16-7, although SCU led in shots on-goal, 5-4. Travis and Luzanilla led the Pioneers with three shots apiece.
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