Rams get late goal, but fall to John Brown

SILOAM SPRINGS, AR – Texas Wesleyan Men's Soccer (6-8-1, 2-5-1 SAC) suffered a 4-1 loss to John Brown (7-7-1, 4-4 SAC) Thursday night on Alumni Field in Arkansas.

The Eagles poured in goals as hard as the rain Thursday night, scoring all four of their goals in the first 15 minutes. All four came from Ashby Clark, who coming into the match … hadn't scored. Clark had actually only taken eight shots all season, putting three on goal. The senior had five his sophomore year and a goal last year but was ruthless against the Rams.

11 of the Eagle's 19 shots were on target, allowing Texas Wesleyan goalkeeper Bastian Blumenberg to collect seven saves. A 4-0 deficit may be easy to overcome in other sports, but in soccer – on the road and in the rain – there's not much that can be done.

Still, the Rams nearly outshot John Brown in the second half (6-7) and got a goal in the 88th minute from Claudio Barraza off a penalty kick, his ninth of the season. Barraza came off the bench and led the Rams with four shots, two on goal. Jovanni Angon had the third shot on target in the 87th minute.

The loss slips Texas Wesleyan behind SAGU and into the No. 8 spot for the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament, although Texas Wesleyan can beat winless Bacone Saturday for a chance to avoid playing the No. 1 team in the conference in the first round of the tournament next week.

NEARING RARE COMPANY
With one more goal this season, Barraza can become just the third men's soccer player this decade for the Rams to score at least 10 goals in a season, joining Ivan Kovacevic (14 goals in 2011 and 12 goals in 2013) and Micah Day (12 goals in 2016).

WHAT'S NEXT
You can never take a team lightly, but Bacone is last on the Rams' regular season schedule Saturday, and has been outscored in their eight SAC games 62-2. If Texas Wesleyan takes care of business, the Rams will finish the regular season with the most wins for the program since 2015.