SHAWNEE – Oklahoma Baptist men's soccer begins the 2019 season on the road. The Bison will face Southwest Baptist on Thursday, Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Bolivar, Missouri, before taking on Oklahoma Christian in Oklahoma City on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 7:30 p.m.
Alejandro Castillo and
Dominic Gibson, two of OBU's top three scorers from last year, return to lead the offense. They'll be aided by the return of
Luis Romero who returned to Bison Hill after a year hiatus as a graduate student; Romero tallied a team-high seven goals in 2017.
Defensively, the Bison will ease the transition of a new back line with the return of
David Estrada, also a graduate student who last played in 2017. Estrada was named an unanimous First Team All-Great American Conference selection the last time he suited up for OBU.
Parker Lawter is set to hold down goalkeeping duties for a third straight season. The junior goalkeeper owns a career 3.03 goals-against average and 126 saves.
Southwest Baptist went 1-16 last year, including a 6-3 loss to the Bison. Isaiah Waddy scored seven goals last year and is the top returning scorer for a Bearcats squad that averaged 1.06 goals/match. In goal, Will vanHoornbeek is expected to show improvement after posting a 4.33 GAA and .551 save percentage in his freshman campaign.
Oklahoma Christian posted a 6-11-1 record in 2018, but won just two matches at home. Senior Diego Vazquez lead an offense had a hand in just over a third of the Eagles' goals last season after bagging four goals and three assists last season. Anthony Trabichet will return in goal after starting all 18 matches last season and recording 1.86 GAA and .762 save percentage.
