OKLAHOMA CITY – After giving up two early goals, the Wayland Baptist women's soccer team rallied but ultimately fell to first-place Oklahoma City University in an action-packed Sooner Athletic Conference match Saturday afternoon at Brian Harvey Field, 4-3.
"Even though it wasn't the ultimate desired outcome, there were a lot of successes for us," Wayland coach
Shiloh Posey said. "We broke our scoring drought, almost doubling our season total; we continued to move the ball well; our effort level never diminished; and we competed well the entire game."
OCU (9-1-2, 4-0-0 SAC) scored twice in the first 13½ minutes of the match, but Wayland (1-5-4, 0-2-2) answered with goals by
Ajacia Mojica in the 17
th minute and
Tobi McCoy, who offered what Posey called a beautiful assist on the first goal, on a penalty kick in the 36
th minute.
"We went down early, but the girls battled," Posey said.
With four goals already on the board, OCU took advantage of a couple of Wayland mistakes and put up two more goals before halftime – the first in the 40
th minute then an amazingly-quick 20 seconds later.
The Stars' goals came from four different players.
After the six-goal first half, only one more was added in the final 45 minutes, by Wayland's
Bruna Moureira off a rebounded PK in the 78
th minute. Posey said Wayland did get the ball in the goal right before Moureira's goal but the Pioneers were called offside.
OCU clamped down on defense after that and Wayland was unable to get off another shot the rest of the way.
Wayland was outshot by the Stars, 25-10, and on shots on-goal, 15-7. Mojica and McCoy fired three shots apiece for the Pioneers. All three of McCoy's were on-goal while two of Mojica's were on-target.
OCU was able to keep its players much fresher throughout the match by getting 19 players on the pitch vs. 12 for Wayland.
"The game ended 4-3, but I'm proud of the effort and look forward to the next match at Central Christian on Friday," Posey said.
WBU, which was coming off a scoreless tie with Oklahoma-Panhandle State on Tuesday, wraps up a three-match road swing Friday at Central Christian in McPherson, Kan. The Lady Tigers (4-6, 0-3) hosted OPSU on Saturday.
After that, Wayland plays three in a row at home, starting with Southwestern Assemblies of God on Oct. 18.
