Bison Crowned GAC Regular Season Champs

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BETHANY, Okla. – Oklahoma Baptist claimed the first Great American Conference regular season title in men's soccer program history with a 5-2 road victory over Southern Nazarene Tuesday night.
 
In just their second year in the league, the Bison (10-6-1) finished the conference schedule with a 5-1 record. OBU was runner-up in the regular season and conference tournament in 2015.
 
Four of the five goals scored for the Bison came after halftime, as OBU cruised to a victory over the rival Crimson Storm (1-14-1, 1-5 GAC) at Wes Harmon Field.
 
Martin Romero scored his first goal of the season to give the Bison a 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute. Romero was able to beat the keeper following a deflected shot from Thiago Dos Santos. SNU scored two unanswered goals to take a 2-1 advantage into halftime.
 
The equalizer came on an own-goal just one minute after intermission. An errant pass by SNU evened up the score at 2-2.
 
Romero assisted Jonathan Martinez on the go-ahead goal in the 56th minute. Martinez rebounded a deflected shot from Romero to rip a shot past the keeper and put the Bison on top for good. Vicente Castillo scored his 10th goal of the season 16 minutes later, scoring on a pass from Jesus Andrade to extend the lead.
 
Luis Romero finished the night with an exclamation point, taking a pass from Castillo in the 87th minute and burying the ball just inside the upper 90 for the fifth goal of the match.
 
Colin Spencer picked up the win in goal, making five saves on the night. In a very physical contest, there were five total yellow cards shown and a SNU player received a red card.
 
The GAC standings are now final, with Ouachita finishing second and Harding falling to third. Top-seeded Oklahoma Baptist will meet fourth-seeded Southern Nazarene once again in the semifinal round of the GAC Tournament, with the Tigers and Bisons comprising the other semifinal pairing.
 
Both semifinal matches will take place on Friday, Nov. 4, with the championship match on Nov. 6.
 
One final regular season contest awaits the Bison, as they meet University of Mary at the OBU Soccer Complex on Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. Senior Night festivities will take place immediately following the match.