Bison Two Wins from National Tournament

November 10, 2004

OBU's fledgling men's soccer team is two wins away from achieving a national tournament berth in its first season.

The Bison are the No. 2 seed in the NAIA Region VI Tournament, which begins Friday at Southern Nazarene University. SNU will open at 11 a.m. against USAO in a rematch of the Sooner Athletic Conference championship game, which USAO won on penalty kicks.

The Bison will follow at 2 p.m. with a game against Texas A&M International University out of Laredo, Texas.

The Dustdevils posted a 13-4-1 record heading into the regional and have notched a 3-0 record against the SAC, including a 4-1 win over USAO. Daniel Hermosillo leads TAMIU with 21 goals in 18 games while Diego Gentile has 14 goals. Jesus Sanchez leads with 21 assists.

Goalkeeper Graham Lee has only one shutout this season.

OBU counters with a three-head goal monster in Amaury Nunes, Marcos Silva and Thiago Silva. Nunes has 16 goals in 17 games, while Marcos Silva and Thiago Silva have 14 each.

Quinn Will and Zach Eckert have four shutouts between them in goal.

The region championship will be at 2 p.m., Saturday, with the winner advancing to the NAIA Tournament.

Officials at the NAIA Headquarters could not recall a first-year team making the NAIA Tournament, but could not say with certainty that OBU would be the first to do so.