Posey taking another team back to Arkansas

Once again, the Wayland Baptist women's soccer team is headed to Siloam Springs, Ark., to take part in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament.
 
The Pioneers (4-7, 2-7 SAC) will take on the 14^th-ranked, conference champion John Brown Golden Eagles (9-0, 9-0) at 2 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the SAC Tournament.
 

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SAC Tourney Bracket

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JBU is the No. 1 seed, while Wayland is the No. 8 seed in the eight-team, single-elimination tournament. The Pioneers tied with Southwestern Assemblies of God (5-9, 2-7) for eighth place in the final regular-season standings, but because Wayland defeated SAGU, 3-0, on March 20, the Pioneers earn the No. 8 seed while the Lions are one of two teams not to make the conference tourney field.
 
SAGU could have secured a spot in the tournament but lost to Texas Wesleyan, 4-3, this afternoon in Waxahachie.
 
Wayland women's soccer coach Shiloh Posey is no stranger to making the trek to Arkansas for the post-season. Thursday's match will be the sixth time it's happened in the past eight years.
 
Things had never really worked out for Wayland in Siloam Springs…until last season.
 
In the quarterfinals of the 2019 SAC Tournament, WBU and No. 13 JBU battled to a 1-1 double-overtime tie, but the Pioneers advanced following a 4-2 shootout victory. It marked the WBU team's first celebration in Siloam Springs, where Wayland – including regular-season and post-season meetings – had been turned away all 12 times previously.
 
Making the so-called "victory" even more remarkable, the Pioneers hadn't scored the last six times they had faced the Golden Eagles, who had outscored Wayland during that run, 28-0.
 
Wayland continued the momentum from its third-ever playoff advancement to post a 1-0 win over Texas Wesleyan in the semifinals. Wayland's deepest post-season trek ended in the SAC Championship with a 7-2 loss to No. 9 Science & Arts of Oklahoma.
 
Thursday's game will be a rematch of the March 3 meeting when then No. 16 John Brown defeated Wayland, 3-0, at one of Wayland's homes-away-from-home this season, Lubbock Cooper High School.
 
The JBU-WBU winner advances to play the winner between No. 4 seed Oklahoma City (8-3, 6-2) and No. 5 seed Texas Wesleyan (6-3, 6-3). The semifinal will be played April 5 at the home of the higher seed.
 
The championship is set for April 8, also at the home of the highest remaining seed.
 
The conference tournament champion reaches the NAIA Championships, which begin with the NAIA Championship Opening Round on April 15-17 at campus sites across the country. The winners of those opening rounds advance to the final site in Foley, Ala., April 27-May 3.

Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament
WOMEN
At Campus Sites at Highest Seed
Thursday's Games
Quarterfinals
Game 1: No. 8 Wayland Baptist (4-7) at No. 1 John Brown (9-0), 2 p.m.
Game 2: No. 7 Central Christian (8-9) at No. 2 Mid-America Christian (14-2), 6 p.m.
Game 3: No. 6 Southwestern Christian (5-8) at No. 3 USAO (11-4), 6 p.m.
Game 4: No. 5 Texas Wesleyan (5-3) at No. 4 Oklahoma City (8-3), 7 p.m.
Monday, April 5
Semifinals
Game 5: TBA
Game 6: TBA
Thursday, April 8
Championship
Game 7: Semifinal winners, TBA