Bison Fall in NAIA Tournament

Article Date

November 18, 2005

The best soccer season in Oklahoma Baptist University history came to an end in the first round of the NAIA Tournament in Daytona Beach, Fla., Friday.

The Bison lost to defending NAIA champion Lindenwood 2-1, despite a furious comeback attempt by OBU.

OBU was snuffed on three shots and two corner kicks in the final 10:31 of the game after rallying from a 2-0 deficit with a goal from Nickson Odeny.

Lindenwood came out firing. OBU's Joao Acedo had a save in the second minute of the game, but was beaten on a goal by Vladimir Knezevic just over three minutes into the game to give LU a 1-0 lead.

Elton Silva had a shot sail high in the seventh minute. Bryce Flynn of the Lions saved a shot by Marcos Silva in the 14th minute. After that, Lindenwood fired a salvo of shots on the Bison goal.

OBU turned away three shots in a span of 13 seconds and by the 16th minute had been out-shot 6-2, but still only trailed by the margin of the early goal.

Lindenwood's barrage calmed and the Lions picked up a pair of first-half yellow cards, but OBU could not capitalize. At half's end, the Lions held the 1-0 advantage and had out-shot the Bison 8-2. Acedo has three first half saves.

Marcos Silva forced another Flynn save early in the second half and Pablo Campos had an on-target shot stopped by Flynn three minutes later in the 56th minute. Aduato Oliveira would have a shot blocked in the 62nd minute.

Lindenwood got a couple of shots in after clearing the ball to the other side of the field, but the Bison rattled back.

Campos had another shot turned away in the 65th minute, starting a Bison flurry of four shots in less than three minutes, but Flynn had two saves and tow other shots were off the mark.

OBU seemed to have things heading in the right direction with a couple of corner kicks, but after the second, Lindenwood cleared and quickly got the ball to Ignacio Novas, who scored for the 2-0 bulge in the 73rd minute.

The Bison refused to give up, however, and Nickson Odeny booted home a rebound shot to pull the Lions to within 2-1 in the 79th minute.

Oliveira missed high in the 80th minute as the Bison worked frantically to keep the season going. Flynn turned back another Oliveira shot in the 82nd minute for his sixth save of the game.

The seventh Flynn save came in the 83rd minute, smothering a shot by Campos.

OBU took a corner kick by Marcos Silva with 81 seconds left in the game, but could not convert.