Bison Open Season on the Road

SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist men's soccer opens the 2017 campaign on the road in Oklahoma City when they take on Oklahoma Christian on Thursday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. It's the first time OBU's opened the season on the road since 2014.
 
The Bison return several enticing scoring options in Thiago Dos Santos, Luis Romero and Jonathan Martinez. Dos Santos led the team last season with 17 goals, including a single-match program record of five against Houghton College. The trio combined for 30 goals overall last season, and also had a hand in 12 others.
 
Oklahoma Baptist's defense allowed 15.2 shots per match last season and returns both central defenders, David Estrada and Michael Stewart, who combined for 45 starts out of a possible 46. Between the sticks, all three goalkeepers that saw action return for 2017, paced by Thomas Ackernecht who posted a .800 save percentage and 1.35 goals-against average.
 
Oklahoma Christian opened up their season last week with a pair of wins over Great American Conference foes, dropping Southern Nazarene and Harding by a combined tally of 6-2. Chandler Parrish has a team-high two goals, while four other Eagles have opened their 2017 accounts. Anthony Buchanan and Cole Helterbrand each have two assists. Defensively, Gianluca Marchetti owns a 1.00 GAA and .857 save percentage on 29 shots faced.
 
The two sides opened the season against each other last season in Shawnee. The Bison used three goals in the final 39 minutes of play to earn a 4-2 victory over OC.