GOODWELL, Okla. – In dominating fashion, Wayland Baptist's men's soccer team snapped a four-match skid here Tuesday, getting two goals apiece from
Bryan Alfaro and
Leonardo Amaral to take down Oklahoma-Panhandle State in a Sooner Athletic Conference contest, 4-1.
Wayland (4-5-1, 1-2 SAC) led 1-0 at halftime after a goal in the 19
th minute by Alfaro, who pounced on a loose ball after the OPSU keeper failed to handle a shot from
Ryan Naidoo. The Aggies (2-4-1, 0-3) tied it up 6½ minutes after halftime, but the Pioneers really got rolling after that, scoring three goals in a span of 18 minutes.
The game-winner was a tap-in in the 59
th minute from Alfaro, again after a shot by Naidoo, this one from outside the box that hit the post. It was Alfaro's team-leading fifth goal of the season.
Amaral, with an assist from Naidoo, put in an insurance goal in the 70
th minute, then seven minutes later scored again, his third goal of 2022, to ice the match.
Harry Garbutt got the assist on the final goal.
Wayland ended with twice as many shots on-goal, 10 to OPSU's five, while the Pioneers took 16 shots total. Naidoo and
Santiago Hernandez provided three shots apiece, with
Angel Rivas and Alfaro getting two on-target shots each.
First-year Pioneer
Yoherlian Bejarano, who saw his first action of the season in the second half of WBU's previous match against John Brown, got his first start in goal and recorded his first decision of the season, managing three saves.
The game marked the first of a three-match road swing for Wayland, which next plays at 4 p.m. Saturday against Oklahoma City University (8-2, 2-0), which shut out Central Christian (5-2-3, 0-1-1) at home Tuesday, 2-0.
