By Parker Turley
PLAINVIEW, Texas-- The Texas Wesleyan men's soccer team edged Wayland Baptist 7-6 in penalty kicks to fuel the Rams to their first SAC tournament win since 2014 on Friday evening to advance to the semifinal match.
"I'm so proud of this group for the way they constantly battle for each other," said head coach
Cole Sweetser. "They took their lumps and bruises throughout the season, and they learn and grow from each one of them, they are putting it all together at the right time."
TXWES played stifling defense as senior keeper
Bastian Blumenberg recorded 8 saves on the night. WBU out shot TXWES 9 to 4 on goal.
The Rams struggled on the offensive attack as Wayland dominated possession throughout the game. The Rams back line held strong for the last 45 minutes of the game as the game went into overtime after neither team was able to score during regulation.
The Rams offensive attack came alive in the two overtime periods as they out shot the Pioneers 2 to 0 on goal in overtime. The Rams also continued their ferocious defensive play in both overtime periods.
Neither team was able to score in the overtime periods, which sent the match to penalty kicks.
Wayland Baptist shot first and took a 1-0 lead in penalty kicks after Antonio Mendez found the back of the net. The Rams evened the score at 1 after junior
Mario Herrera buried a shot into the back of the net.
TXWES had 7 different players score in penalty kicks. Freshman Jonathon Lopez, sophomore
Lazar Pavlovic, junior
James Kerr, freshman
Mathis Guffroy, freshman osvaldo Lopez all made penalty kicks to tie the penalty kicks score at 6.
Freshman
Joep Van Wyk stepped up and blasted a shot into the back of the net to advance the Rams to conference semifinals on penalty.
7-seed Southwestern Christian upset 2-seed Oklahoma Panhandle State, advancing 5-4 on penalty kicks after the game ended in a 1-1 draw. That means that Texas Wesleyan will host Southwestern Christian in the SAC tournament semifinal match on Monday, Nov. 8. Kick-off from Martin Field is set for 7 p.m. Live coverage can be found at RamSports.net/watch.
