COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce soccer team heads to Texarkana to face regional opponent Ouachita Baptist on Wednesday.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (2-1-0) vs. Ouachita Baptist (2-2-0)
WHERE: TAMUT Soccer Field in Texarkana, Texas
WHEN: Wednesday, Sept. 12 at 1 p.m.
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
 
The Lions are coming off of a divisional win over rival Dallas Baptist. Before the match, Lion head coach Neil Piper said the team was one of the best in the country and he was proud of his team's efforts in the 2-1 win.
 
"It was a good win for us," Piper said. "To me, Dallas Baptist is one of the best teams in the region and in the country. We always have a good game plan against them and we match up well with them for some reason. We were fortunate to score early in each half. We got the game plan we wanted and we defended well.
 
"I think we made the game frustrating for them. It was a great win. It kind of erases the bad loss we had at the beginning. We get to start over now. We are looking forward to this week."
 
The Lion offense was able to strike quickly in both halves of that DBU game. Sabrina Munguia scored both goals, the first coming in the third minute of the match. The second came 10 seconds into the second half, when the Lions took the first possession and marched right down the field to score. Piper said it wasn't the first goal the Lions had scored in the opening seconds of a half.
 
"Ironically, I think we had our fastest goal in school history, and it was at DBU," he said. "I remember it was Erin de Wolfe in 2004 or 2005. I always remember that as well. It was a kickoff that we have worked on and fortunately we got to work on it seven times against Metro, so it paid off for this game."
 
The Lion defense also had a strong effort in the contest, particularly in the second half. The Lions faced 10 shots from DBU, but only allowed one to be on goal. Scoring so quickly to start the half, the Lions chose to play defense to guard their one-goal advantage.
 
"It was a team effort," Piper said of the team's defense. "We started defending from the top and closed a lot of gaps that they wanted. I would sa, in the 45 minutes, they had three really good chances to score. We dodged some bullets. But our defense defended well. It is always easier to defend when you don't have to score. We got the lead and we didn't need to produce shots. We just needed to stop them from getting good shots. And we did that."
 
The Lions now get ready to face Ouachita Baptist. The Lions have not faced the Tigers since 2014. Piper sees a talented team and knows his team will need to be ready to play if they are to have a shot to win.
 
"They are young and athletic," Piper said of OBU. "They have some transfers on their team that are pretty good. If you play them the wrong way, they can do you in. We are definitely going to be careful playing them. We know what they are capable of. We just have to match their intensity."