Soccer teams win finales, secure No. 3 seeds with shutouts on Senior Night

It was a Senior Night shutout sweep for Wayland Baptist soccer Saturday evening at Hilliard Field as the Pioneer women defeated Oklahoma-Panhandle State, 3-0, before the Pioneer men blanked the Aggies, 2-0.

The victories in the final regular-season matches locked up No. 3 seeds and home playoff matches for both WBU teams in the upcoming Sooner Athletic Conference Tournaments, which begin this coming Friday for the men and Saturday for the women. Pairings for the tournaments will be announced early next week. Those are eight-team, single-elimination events played on the campus of the higher seed.

"It's always great to win on Senior Night, but it's particularly nice with this group," said WBU women's coach Shiloh Posey, who greeted 10 seniors in a ceremony before the match. "There's been a lot of time and effort given by these ladies – especially the seniors – so I'm glad that they were able to finish the regular season this way. I told the team to enjoy tonight and the time with their families."

The WBU women (10-4-1, 6-2-1) will take a four-match winning streak into post-season play, matching their longest stretch of the season. Saturday's victory came against an OPSU team that played the entire 90 minutes one player down, and the Aggies 4-13-0, 1-8-0) didn't really stand a chance.

The Pioneers took 28 shots compared to only two for OPSU in the lopsided affair.

Wayland scored its first goal in the 31^st minute when Ajacia Mojica put the ball between the pipes off a deflection following a blocked shot for her second goal of the season. Natalie Terry made it 2-0 some 90 seconds before halftime when she sent a sky-high chip shot just over the leaping OPSU keeper's reach, the ball landing just over the goalline. It was Terry's first goal of the year and second of her three-year career.

Not that there was any doubt, but Bianca Roman sealed the win with less than nine minutes to go when she scored her team-high 11^th goal from short range after the Aggie keeper couldn't smother a cross. Roman got off eight shots, three on-goal, while Mojica and Cloe Marmitt fired four shots each.

OPSU keeper Mya Szymanski recorded eight saves while Wayland's Kanade Morita saved the only shot on-goal she saw.

"We know that the SAC Tournament starts next weekend, and it's a one-game season from this point forward," Posey said. "We will do everything we can to prepare and will continue to stay focused on the next game – one game at a time."
 
The WBU men – loser of two of their last three – came up with a much-needed victory against second-place OPSU, a win that assured the Pioneers (9-5-2, 5-2-2 SAC) would host a first-round match in the SAC Tournament. A loss to the Aggies (10-3-2, 6-2-1) – who were coming off a tie with third-ranked, conference-leading, previously unbeaten and untied Mid-America Christian on Tuesday in Oklahoma City – might have meant Wayland finished as the No. 5 seed.
 
"We came into this game with one goal: to get three points to be sure of hosting on Friday," WBU coach Robert Ssejjemba said. "We did have a sense of urgency from the start and it showed in our intensity and in the way we closed down the ball high up the pitch and created opportunities to score."
 
The Pioneers got the game-winning goal 23½ minutes in when Danijel Bozic played a ball in from the right side. Hector Romero settled it with his chest then fired on a half-volley for his fifth goal of the season.
 
Wayland picked up an insurance goal in the 60^th minute. Leonardo Amaral played a long ball down the left sideline. Antonio Menendez chased it down then rifled a beautiful 30-yard shot past the diving OPSU keeper. Like Romero, it was the fifth goal of the year for Menendez.
 
The Pioneers kept the Aggies on their heels the entire night, allowing just four shots. Wayland, meanwhile, was aggressive the entire 90 minutes and wound up with 19 shots by 10 different players. Menendez took a team-high four shots coming off the bench. Romero led WBU with three of the Pioneers' seven on-goal shots.
 
Much to the delight of the fans, WBU keeper Ilkkan Sahin gave way to Brandon Duarte, one of the 11 seniors recognized before the match, for the final couple of minutes between the pipes.