SILOAM SPRINGS, Ark. –
Samba Gnokane put in a header after a shot bounced off the crossbar to give Wayland Baptist a dramatic 2-1, double-overtime victory over John Brown University in Sooner Athletic Conference play here Saturday afternoon.
Gallery: (10-2-2021) Men's Soccer at JBU
"I'm proud of our performance today. I thought we started with the right attitude and desire to get a goal," Wayland coach
Robert Ssejjemba said after his team improved to 5-3-1 on the year and 1-0-1 in the conference. JBU fell to 3-6-0, 1-1-0.
Hector Romero scored the first goal of the match, finishing off a cross from
Leonardo Amaral on the back post. Amaral beat his marker and whipped in a hard ball that Romero met on the back post with a tap-in.
That goal in the 26
th minute was answered just four minutes later when JBU's Ethan Stockdale headed in a short-range ball past WBU keeper
Ilkkan Sahin.
The match remained knotted until Gnokane's game-winner – his team-high seventh goal of the season – some four minutes into the second OT. Gnokane headed the ball on a rebound off
Leonardo Marini's long range shot outside the box. Marini's ball hit the crossbar and Samba pounced on the rebound for the golden goal. Romero was credited with the assist.
"Our build-up play out of the back was good and we picked our moments when we had the opportunity to go forward," Ssejjemba said. "We managed the game well. I think we made things a little hard on ourselves because we wasted opportunities that could have given us the win in normal time."
Wayland held a 19-7 shots advantage, getting nine on-goal compared to three for the Golden Eagles. Gnokane wit six and Romero with five combined for 11 shots, with Gnokane managing four on-goal and Romero three.
It was Wayland's second straight double-OT match, and third on the season, all on the road. The Pioneers are 1-1-1 in those matches, having tied Texas Wesleyan, 3-3, in their SAC opener earlier this week and falling to Houston-Victoria, 3-2, on Sept. 11.
WBU will be at Hilliard Field for its next two matches, first at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday against Central Christian (5-5, 0-2) then at 5 p.m. Saturday against Oklahoma City (6-2, 0-1).
