OKLAHOMA CITY – It wasn't as dramatic as last season's conference tournament-opening win, but the Wayland Baptist women's soccer team once again is moving on in the post-season thanks to a 1-0, double-overtime victory over Mid-America Christian in the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament quarterfinals Thursday afternoon at Dill Field.
"Today was one of those (matches) that you dream about: adversity, unplanned situations, two overtimes, heroics by a senior and intense effort," WBU coach Shiloh Posey said.
Senior Natalie (Terry) Weg scored her third career goal with 1:49 left in the first overtime, and Wayland's defense – led by keeper Kanade Morita – recorded its sixth shutout of the season.
"MACU has a solid team and finished the season as the No. 3 seed (in the SAC), which says a lot about their quality," Posey said. "It was a battle from the beginning."
Tournament Page: https://soonerathletic.org/tournaments/?id=783
Bracket:
https://soonerathletic.org/tournaments/brackets/2022-SAC-Womens-Soccer-Tournament/16
SAC Sports Network: https://sacsportsnetwork.com/
The Pioneers now prepare for another post-season trip to Arkansas.
The win over third-seeded MACU sends sixth-seeded Wayland (5-7-4) into the semifinals against second-seeded, 21
st-ranked John Brown (13-4), which won its quarterfinal over Southwestern Christian, 5-0. That match in Siloam Springs, Ark., will take place at 6 p.m. Monday.
The Pioneers – who fell to the Golden Eagles when they met Sept. 30 in Plainview, 3-0 – have a long post-season history playing JBU in Arkansas, most recently a 6-0 loss in the conference tournament quarters to end the 2020-21 season. The season before that Wayland shocked JBU in the opening round by taking the Golden Eagles to PKs and advancing, 4-2. WBU went on to defeat Texas Wesleyan in the semis, 1-0, before falling to No.9 Science & Arts in the championship, 7-2.
"It looks like we will make another trip to our second home, JBU, for the semifinal game on Monday," Posey said. "There have been unexpected miracles there before, so we are expecting anything to be possible!"
The winner advances to the tournament championship next Thursday.
Thursday's victory over MACU (6-10-2) marked Wayland's fifth all-time playoff win, sixth post-season advancement and fifth time in program history that Posey's team advanced to the conference tourney semis. With a win Monday they'd make their second final in four seasons.
It also marks the second straight season Wayland won its post-season opener, having taken down Oklahoma City University last season, 1-0 in double-overtime. In what was just their third home post-season match, now current graduate assistant coach Bianca Roman – off a midfield header pass from Chloe Marmitt – scored with 11 seconds left in the second extra period.
Posey said the Pioneers on Thursday "seemed a little nervous at the beginning. Bessy Diaz went out early with an injury, and Francesca Gonzalez had to move to the defensive line and did a great job. Bry Walker and Mady Brooks had significant minutes today playing in a couple of different roles, as well as others who stepped in and played extremely well, even in unplanned/unfamiliar positions."
Thursday's game-winner from Terry, a grad student, came after 98 minutes of scoreless soccer on a shot from 30 yards out into the corner of the goal that got past MACU keeper Makayla Farquharson.
According to Posey, "A long ball was played into the midfield from Kanade. After a couple of passes and deflections from our attacking players and MACU defenders, a ball came to Natalie, who found herself with free space about 30 yards from goal in the center of the field. She had tried a couple of earlier opportunities in the game with no goal to show, but she hit a shot with conviction and it found its way over the head of everyone, including the MACU keeper, and into the upper left portion of the goal."
It was Terry's first connection since the regular-season finale last season and just the third of her four-year career.
It was the first overtime of the season for both teams since NAIA rules changed this year. Overtimes were not allowed during regular-season play, and in the playoffs teams must play the full 20 minutes of overtime, instead of the possibility of a golden goal ending it.
"We defended for our lives the last portion of the first OT and all 10 minutes of the second OT," Posey said.
While the Lady Evangels outshot Wayland, 17-11, both teams fired six shots on-goal, with only Terry's hitting home. Morita, who was credited with her own shot on-goal, saved all six of MACU's on-target offerings.
Eight different Pioneers took shots, led by Tobi McCoy's three. For MACU, Jasie Eischen and Francesca Martella took five shots each.
"We came away with a hard-fought road victory, and all the credit goes to the ladies, as well as my assistant coaches," Posey said.
The match was moved up a day due to the threat of inclement weather on Friday.
Wayland's men's soccer team hopes the outcome of the Pioneer women's match is a good sign since coach Robert Ssejjemba takes his team to Oklahoma City to open the conference tournament against the second-ranked Evangels on Saturday evening.
