Bolivar, Mo. - The SBU Men's Soccer team hit the road and traveled to Bethany, OK to kick off their 2023 season against reigning GAC Champions, Southern Nazarene University. Even after a strong start from the Bearcats, it would not be enough to beat the Crimson Storm, who is currently receiving votes in the NCAA Division II United Soccer Coaches Poll. After 90 minutes, the final score was 6-4 for the Crimson Storm in this high-scoring game. Southwest Baptist now starts off the season with an 0-1 overall record.
"The early lead was good, but we need to learn to protect our lead when we have it" says Coach Sabelo Hlongwane. The Bearcats were able to take the lead in the 5th minute of the game as senior Loger Rodriguez scored his first goal for the Bearcats from a free-kick. The Bearcats then conceded a goal from a penalty-kick in the 7th minute but were able to regain the lead after sophomore Titouan Fraslin capitalized on a defensive error to put the Bearcats up again. Unfortunately, it would take 3 unanswered goals for the Bearcats to respond back as sophomore Iker Lorenzo scores his first goal for the Bearcats before going into the half down by one.
After the half, it would take 46 seconds for sophomore Iker Lorenzo to secure a brace as he scored his second goal of the game to help the Bearcats tie up the score. The second half was different than the first in that it remained scoreless until SNU scored 2 more goals in the final minutes to end the game 6-4 in favor of the Crimson Storm.
"All in all, a good performance by the team and sticking to our unity even in the face of adversity was good to see. We still have some work to do in preparation for conference but these next two games, we plan to build a momentum that can see us start conference in the right way. I am happy to see the boys play our way no matter the opponent" says Coach Hlongwane.
The Bearcats will play their last 2 non-conference games at home against Central Baptist College, on Saturday at 3:00 PM, and Newman University, next Tuesday at 2:00 PM.
