SWOSU Sports
Doug Self, Sports Information Director
WEATHERFORD – SWOSU Soccer was victorious in its home opener on Thursday over Central Oklahoma, 2-1, thanks to two second-half goals including Alimata Rabo’s game-winner in the 88th minute.
It was a tale of two halves for the Bulldogs, who went into the locker room trailing the Bronchos 1-0. SWOSU outshot UCO 10-6, but was on its heels at times in the half trying to defend the Broncho attack. Central Oklahoma got on the board early in the fifth minute with a line-drive kick delivered from the foot of UCO’s Asha Hailey over a jumping Lexi Bates at goalkeeper.
Out of the locker room after halftime, the Dawgs turned up the aggressiveness and spent a majority of the final half on UCO’s side of the field. Sarah Wilson netted the equalizer in the 69th minute, trailing Sandra Nabweteme who passed it behind her and allowed Wilson to get a kick off near the outskirts of the box and into the goal.
Knotted at 1-1 with time ticking down and overtime looming, Alimata Rabo found an opening to deliver the go-ahead score with just two minutes left to play in regulation.
“It was a great game, UCO has a strong program but I thought that we really came and competed today,” SWOSU Head Coach Mark Persson said following the match. “In the first half, we got down early but we kept coming back and created great opportunities. Finally towards the end we were able to finish a couple of chances and get the victory. This was a great test for us and our next game against West Texas A&M will be another test so we just want to keep getting better every game.”
The win moves SWOSU to 2-1 on the season and the Dawgs have now won their previous two matches after falling to nationally ranked Central Missouri in their first match of the year. Up next for the Bulldogs will be another non-conference foe, West Texas A&M, on Thursday, Sept. 14 played in Weatherford.