Soccer Men Advance to SAC Finals

In much the same fashion as last season, the USAO men’s soccer team has advanced to the Sooner Athletic Conference tournament finals for the second straight year. The Drovers blew past Oklahoma Christian 5-1 Tuesday in the semifinals.

With the four-goal win, USAO improves to 12-7-1 overall. The No. 2-seed Drovers are scheduled to face No. 1 Southern Nazarene at 2 p.m. Saturday in Bethany for the SAC tournament championship. SNU defeated No. 7 Oklahoma Baptist 3-1 Tuesday in the other semifinal.

On a cold, windy afternoon, USAO scored two quick goals in the first half and added three more in the second half. Junior Sean Neal opened things up with his fourth goal of the season in the sixth minute on a pass from sophomore Adam Day.

Day connected on a penalty kick in the 30^th minute on the game’s lone penalty kick. Oklahoma Christian’s Matt Clark scored his league-high 22 goal of the season in the 31^st minute for the Eagles only goal. About three minutes into overtime, Day scored his sixth goal of the season on a pass from senior Nate Phillips.

In the 54^th minute, sophomore Augustine Osese scored his fourth goal of the season off a quick pass from Day.  Sophomore Tom Hubbard notched his fifth goals of the season on a breakaway after a pass from Neal.

Junior goalkeeper Elliott Ballmann finished with five saves and allowed a goal in his 37^th career win. Oklahoma Christian’s Caleb Mullins collected six saves but surrendered five goals as the Eagles fall to 9-5-4.