Lady Bison Headed to Region Title Game

Article Date

November 8, 2005

Oklahoma Baptist University's Lady Bison soccer team put itself one win away from its first NAIA Tournament with a 2-1 win Tuesday over Texas Wesleyan University.

The OBU women, who went winless against the Sooner Athletic Conference just last season, could make a trip to Kansas for the national tournament if they beat John Brown University Wednesday in the Region VI Championship, which begins at Bison Field at 2 p.m.

OBU scored the only goal of the first half when Hilary Hendrickson tapped home a rebound after Katya Arruda's shot bounced off the hands of Rams keeper Holly Rowland. The goal came in the 37th minute and gave OBU a 1-0 lead that lasted the remainder of the half.

Texas Wesleyan tied the game in the 56th minute when Jessica Carrion maneuvered past a defender and OBU goalkeeper Maira Negri for a tying shot.

TWU seemed to have momentum until Nicole Richardson was assessed a yellow card about 35 yards from the Ram goal. Lauren Aldred boomed the free kick from there and it appeared Rowland had an easy save.

But the powerful kick went through the raised hands of Rowland and into the net for the decisive goal in the 65th minute.

Negri had nine saves in the game for OBU while Rowland stopped seven shots for the Rams.

OBU was out-shot in the game 14-10.

The win sets up a rubber game with John Brown with the winner earning their first-ever trip to the NAIA Tournament.

The Golden Eagles advanced when Abby Leonard scored in the 89th minute for a 1-0 win over Oklahoma City University.

John Brown defeated OBU 2-0 in the regular season game in Shawnee with goals from Kendra Rehner and Nikki Ganter. The Lady Bison won in the SAC Tournament semifinals in Siloam Springs, Ark., 2-1 after a shootout with goals from Autumn Oury and the game-winning penalty kick by Negri.

JBU leads the all-time series, 2-1.

Region VI Tournament

Semifinals

Tuesday, Nov. 8

John Brown 1, Oklahoma City 0

Oklahoma Baptist 2, Texas Wesleyan 1

Championship

Wednesday, Nov. 9

John Brown at Oklahoma Baptist, 2 p.m.