The Wayland Baptist women's soccer team matched last season's 3-0-1 start — the best in program history — with a convincing 3-0 win over the Howard Payne Lady Yellowjackets on Tuesday afternoon at Hilliard Field.
"I was pleased with the way we maintained possession of the ball," WBU coach
Shiloh Posey said. "I thought we did a good job of making smart decisions, playing the right passes at the right times, and not forcing activity into places where there was a lot of congestion or pressure."
Against a Yellow Jacket team that came to town with a 3-2-1 record and coming off a 5-1 win over Southwestern Assemblies of God University, the Pioneers – who were seeing their first action in eight days – got their scoring started when junior
Fortune Kede broke away after a pass from
Megan Attenborough, allowing Kede to score from close range.
The first half ended with just the one goal for the Pioneers and none for the Lady Yellowjackets, but just six minutes after halftime Kede came through with her second goal, a header assisted by
Estefany Gonzalez's corner kick.
"Fortune's two goals were enormous for us," Posey said. "She has really come on and done a good job."
At that point, Kede had scored WBU's last four goals as the transfer notched both in a 2-1 win over Our Lady of the Lake in the Pioneers' most recent match.
About midway through the second half, Attenborough scored Wayland's third and final goal of the game on a blast from the middle of the field some 40 yards out. She was assisted by
Taylor Moore.
"Taylor did a good job tonight. We rely on her for scoring but she made some really unselfish plays to help us get goals," Posey said. "I'm really pleased with everyone's effort. We used every one of our players to some degree or another."
Wayland took a total of 19 shots, while Howard Payne managed 12.
"I thought that our attacking options at the front of the field really began to pressure Howard Payne. They started defending a little extra, which allowed us to keep attacking at a good rate," Posey pointed out.
The Pioneers put three players in goal. Senior
Victoria Bonahoom started but went down less than seven minutes into the action and was replaced by freshman
Jessie Rivera, who recorded three saves. Graduate student
Maci Merket, the former all-American basketball player for the Flying Queens playing soccer for the first time, saw the field for the first time and played the final 12 minutes, logging a pair of saves, including an impressive one-on-one stop.
"We've been talking a lot about how doing the little things consistently and doing them well with maximum effort give you chances to do good things," Posey said.
The Pioneers next play Lubbock Christian University at 4 p.m. Friday in Lubbock. The former NAIA rival Lady Chaps, now NCAA Division II, are 2-1 with losses to Colorado-Colorado Springs (3-1) and Colorado State-Pueblo (1-0) and a 2-1 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State.
"We are looking forward to the next game we play (against LCU). It is going to be a tough test for us," Posey said. "I am glad we have some confidence right now and hopefully that translates onto the field Friday night."
A win will mean the Pioneers are off to their best start in program history and give them even more momentum heading into their Sooner Athletic Conference opener next Tuesday at home against Oklahoma-Panhandle State.
