Soccer Men Win 2-1 Over OBU; Women Tie

SHAWNEE – The USAO men’s soccer team started off the conference season the way it wanted to, with a 2-1 win over Oklahoma Baptist Thursday. Meanwhile, the Drover women will have to wait on their first conference win, after posting a 2-2 tie against the Lady Bison.

With their one-goal win, the USAO men improve to 8-3-1 and 1-0-0 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. The Drover women’s second tie of the season moves their record to 7-2-2 overall and 0-1-1 in the Sooner Athletic Conference. On Friday, the Drovers travel to Dallas for a doubleheader with Texas A&M-International.

A scoreless tie at halftime, USAO broke out on top when junior Sean Neal scored on a direct free kick in the 53^rd minute of play. Eight minutes later, The Drovers took a comfortable 2-0 lead on a penalty kick by senior Nene Coulibally.

In the 76^th minute, OBU narrowed the lead to 2-1 when Marcos Silva's direct kick found the back of the net. The Bison (10-2, 0-1) just missed a tie when Nickson Odeny's hit the crossbar and bounded away.

USAO junior goalkeeper Elliott Ballmann tied a season-high with nine saves, while surrendering a goal. OBU’s Quinn Will finished with three saves and allowed two goals.

In the women’s game, USAO rallied from a goal down and then survived a late OBU attack. Katinha Arruda gave OBU a 1-0 lead in the third minute of the game, caroming a hard shot off the leg of a USAO defender for a goal. The game was scoreless for the next 60 minutes.

USAO sophomore Jessie Brown scored with an assist from sophomore Audrey Butler to tie the game in the 73^rd minute. OBU answered in the 78^th minute with a Carissa Watson goal from the top of the box after a pass from Anne Castro. Junior Samantha Pecore tied the game in the 83^rd minute with assisted by senior Stefanie Tyree.

OBU missed two chances to win in overtime when USAO junior goalkeeper Katy Newville kick-saved a one-on-one shot by Arruda. Another shot by Daniela Magallon hit the crossbar and the game ended in a tie. OBU outshot USAO 9-3 in the overtimes.

Newville collected five saves and allowed two goals in the game. OBU goalkeeper Maira Negri finished with seven saves for the Lady Bison (5-3-1, 0-1-1).