WBU drops dramatic 18-shot shootout in SAC Tournament quarterfinal

In one of the most dramatic matches in the history of Wayland Baptist soccer, the Pioneers wound up on the short end of a wild 18-shot shootout, bowing out of the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament in a quarterfinal setback to Texas Wesleyan on Friday evening at Hilliard Field.
 
"Missed chances really hurt us," WBU coach Robert Ssejjemba said. "I felt like we dominated the game, but this game is all about goals. If you don't score you can be the best team and not win."
 
After the third-seeded Pioneers and sixth-seeded Rams battled to a 0-0 tie through two overtimes (the teams also tied in double-overtime, 3-3, when they met in the conference opener in Fort Worth on Sept. 28), the teams went to a penalty shootout to determine which squad advances in the post-season.
 
Antonio Menendez, Marco Magnoli and Chris Moses all were good on their attempts for Wayland, but were promptly answered by Texas Wesleyan's Mario Herrera, Jonathan Lopez and Lazar Pavlovic. Both teams' shooters missed their fourth goals, then both made the fifth, Santiago Hernandez for the home team and James Kerr for the visitors.
 
So the match went to "shootout overtime," and both clubs missed their first extra PK before both made their next two, Luis Toro and Danijel Bozic for the Pioneers and Mathis Guffroy and Osvaldo Lopez for the Rams.
 
Senior defenseman Alex Pike lined up for Wayland's ninth attempt and saw his effort miss high. That opened the door once again for Texas Wesleyan, and this time the Rams walked through as Joep Van Wyk slipped the ball past WBU keeper Ilkkan Sahin, who dove right only to see Van Wyk shoot the other way.
 
"Our keeper kept us in the PKs, but we couldn't help him much. He needed his teammates to keep scoring," Ssejjemba said with a chuckle. "Once the game goes to PKs, at that point it's all about which players feel good. It's a different mindset. Even the best players in the game can miss from that close."
 
Ssejjemba, who admitted to never being involved in a shootout that went that deep, said the Pioneers missed too many opportunities to score.
 
"We made things hard on ourselves, and that's what happens when you keep missing."
 
The coach said his team had five excellent chances to get a goal during regular play. "Not 50-50 balls but ones where 80 percent of the time they go in.
 
Wayland took twice as many shots as the Rams, 18-9, with WBU getting nine shots on-goal compared to four for TXWES. Magnoli offered four shots, three on-goal, to lead the Pioneers, while Hector Romero and Menendez had two on-target offerings each.
 
"(Texas Wesleyan) came with a game plan. They wanted to wait for the counter," Ssejjemba said. "Sometimes it was a bit hard to break them down. The chances that we had would have finished off the game. We wanted to get wide quickly and stretch them a little bit, which we did on those occasions. When we got 1v1 vs. the keeper, we couldn't finish."
 
The tie ends Wayland's season with a 9-5-3 record while the Rams (9-6-3) advance to take on either second-seeded Oklahoma-Panhandle State or No. 7 seed Southwestern Christian.
 
The Pioneers were ousted from the conference tourney in the first round for the second straight season after making the semifinals Ssejjemba's first year when Wayland advanced out of a shootout with Southwestern Christian. WBU won that one, 3-1.
 
"We enjoyed the ride," Ssejjemba said of the 2021 season. "The guys worked hard and played some good soccer.
 
"It was a good effort from the guys. Today was unfortunate we ended our season. Now it's time to reset and see where we need to improve and start filling those gaps that will be left by all those seniors."