Bison Lose Conference Opener, Women Tie

Oklahoma Baptist University's men's soccer team lost a heartbreaker to USAO 2-1 in their first-ever Sooner Athletic Conference game after the women's team tied 2-2 Thursday.

The Bison saw their win streak end at eight games.

A scoreless tie at halftime, USAO broke out on top when a long and perfect direct kick by Sean Neal found the upper back corner of the Bison goal with 37:35 left in the game. The Drovers went up 2-0 eight minutes later with a penalty kick by Nene Coulibally.

OBU narrowed the lead to 2-1 with 14:17 left on the clock when Marcos Silva's direct kick got into the upper left corner.

The Bison (10-2, 0-1) just missed a tie when Nickson Odeny's powerful shot found the cross bar and bounced away. USAO (8-3-1, 1-0) dodged a few other bullets along the way and claimed the win.

The women's game saw USAO rally from a goal down and then survive an OBU attack.

Katinha Arruda gave OBU a lead in the third minute of the game, caroming a hard shot off the leg of a USAO defender for a goal. The game was scoreless for the next 60 minutes.

Jessie Brown scored with an assist from Audrey Butler to tie the game at the 17:05 mark. OBU answered with a Carissa Watson score from the top of the box after gathering a pass from Anne Castro.

USAO tied the game with a goal from Samantha Pecore, assisted by Stefanie Tyree.

OBU missed two chances to win in overtime when Katy Newville kick-saved a one-on-one shot by Arruda. Daniela Magallon almost extended her goal streak to three games, but her shot went off the bar and the game ended in a tie.

OBU (5-3-1, 0-1-1) got seven saves from Maira Negri, while Newville had five saves for USAO (7-2-2, 0-1-1).

OBU will travel to Bethel College in Lindsborg, Kan., Saturday.