On Saturday, May 8th, the #2 ranked team in the country and #2 seed in the tourney, the Oklahoma Wesleyan University Eagles continued their national tourney run. In the national semifinal matchup the Eagles would face the #3 seed in the tourney, the Columbia College Cougars of Missouri, with the winner moving on to the National Championship. This would be the second time this season that OKWU and Columbia College would meet, with the previous meeting being back in October that the Eagles would win by a score of 2-1.

 

In the first half the Eagles came out swinging. The Eagle were able to score twice in the first 15 minutes of the match. OKWU's first goal would from Pol Mur Llorens. Llorens was able to send the ball past the Cougars keeper when he was able to receive a headed pass from Stefan Lukic. Not soon after Lukic would be involved again as he was able to intercept an errant pass and put it past the Cougars keeper, who was well out of the goal. OKWU offense, with a 2 goal lead, continued to pressure the Columbia defense for the remainder of the half, while the Eagle defense continued to quickly stop any runs the Cougars tried to make. Heading into half, the Eagles look very confident in the way they played for the first 45 minutes. The Eagles in the first half out shot the Cougars 4-2 (2-0 SOG). 

 

Coming out of halftime the Eagles with a 2-0 lead continued to press the Cougars defense. For most of the second half there were a handful of opportunities for both teams to score. Despite the multiple opportunities, none of these chances were successful until late in the second half when Luka Lukic was able to dribble the ball in from midfield to score on a beautiful strike from roughly 18 yards out. This late goal would put the Eagles up 3-0 and secure the OKWU win.

 

Throughout the match it seemed as if Columbia could not find the answers to get past the OKWU defense or how to stop the potent offense. The Eagles had an all-around stellar performance, from the play of the keeper Alex Vidizzoni, to the back line defense, to the stellar pressure the forwards were able to maintain for the whole match.

 

Next up for the Eagles will be the their first ever National Championship appearance, Monday night at 6:00pm. #2 seeded OKWU will take on the #4 seeded Missouri Valley College Vikings.

 

 

2020 NAIA Men's Soccer National Championship – Game Eight Recap

Oklahoma Wesleyan advances to championship

 

FINAL SCORE

No. 2 Oklahoma Wesleyan (21-2-1) def. No. 3 Columbia (Mo.) (16-2-1), 3-0. | Box Score

Oklahoma Wesleyan advances to face the winner of No. 4 Missouri Valley on Monday at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Columbia (Mo.) has been eliminated from championship play.

GAME NOTES/HIGHLIGHTS

• In the 8^th minute, Pol Mur scored the first goal of the match assisted by Stefan Lukic and Amadou Gadio.
• Lukic then scored his own unassisted goal in the 15^th minute.
• Lukic was the 2019 NAIA Men's Soccer Player of the Year.
• Luka Lukic scored the third goal of the match late in the 80^th minute unassisted 

• This is the first appearance for Columbia (Mo.) in the semifinal round of competition.
• Oklahoma Wesleyan will see championship play for the first time in history.
• First three-goal victory in a semifinals match since Davenport (Mich.) def. Marymount (Calif.) 3-0 in 2014

*via NAIA*