OBU Sports
Jordan Beech, Assistant Director for Athletics Communications
BETHANY – Oklahoma Baptist men’s soccer ran rampant on the way to back-to-back wins for the first time this season after shutting out Southern Nazarene in dominant fashion, 8-0, on Tuesday night at Wes Harmon Field in Bethany.
The Bison’s eight goals ties the Great American Conference record for most goals in a match, as well as the program’s Division II record. Meanwhile, their 39 shots – 21 of which were put on-goal – set a new GAC high-water mark in the category.
“The guys really showed what they can do tonight,” said OBU head coach Anthony Yousey. “We really had a killer instinct tonight in and around the box, and really had great movement in all areas of the field.”
Luis Romero enjoyed a career night, netting the first hat trick in an OBU uniform. He also handed out one assist to finish with seven points on the night, the most in a single match by a player in the GAC this term.
Romero got the scoring started in the 25th minute, but it was an offensive explosion from the 56th to the 58th minute that ensured the Bison victory. Thiago Dos Santos broke out of his slump before Jesus Andrade and Dominic Gibson scored within 46 seconds of each other to make it 4-0. Stormy Arledge then bullied his way past two defenders to make his mark on the match 33 seconds later to make it a five-star night.
A two minute respite was given to the SNU defense before Romero completed his hat trick with goals 60th and 64th minute. First the Spaniard got on the end of a Dos Santos cross to make it 6-0 before adding the final flourishes to his night with a brilliant chip off a long ball sent in by GAC Defensive Player of the Week Kelvin Chandler.
Gibson would score two minutes later off another assist by Dos Santos to conclude a high-scoring second half.
Oklahoma Baptist claimed their second clean sheet of the season, with Thomas Ackernecht earning the starting nod for OBU. He and Parker Lawter combined for the shutout while the back line of Arledge, Chandler, David Estrada and Michael Stewart didn’t give up a single shot on-goal all night.
The Bison (4-5-1, 2-1 GAC) have the rest of the week off before returning home to host Harding in a pivotal GAC matchup between the first and second place teams in the league. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 12 at the OBU Soccer Complex.