OUACHITA ADVANCES TO GAC MEN'S SOCCER TITLE MATCH
Courtesy OBUTigers.com
SEARCY, Ark. – The Ouachita men's soccer team eliminated Southern Nazarene 4-2 in penalty kicks on Friday evening in the Great American Conference Tournament semifinals.
Ouachita (5-10-2) advances to the Championship match on Sunday afternoon against host Harding University. This is the second consecutive year the two schools have met on the pitch to decide the conference championship. During the regular season, the Tigers and Bisons split the season series with each team-holding serve at home.
Goalkeeper Matt Gutierrez (Houston, Texas) stood strong in the goal and saved 11 shot attempts to keep the match a scoreless affair through 110 minutes of game time. Once the Tigers had forced penalty kicks, they knew they had the advantage.
Joey Zerbo (Frisco, Texas), Blain Hickman (Royse City, Texas), Matthew Wallak (Keller, Texas) and Abraham Lazo (Irving, Texas) all converted on their penalty kick opportunities. While Southern Nazarene missed on two of their shot opportunities.
Ouachita will face Harding at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon in Searcy with a chance to win back-to-back Great American Conference Championships.