BETHANY, Okla. — In a quest to earn the school's first regular-season Great American Conference title, Southern Nazarene fell 4-2 in a gut-wrenching fashion to rival Oklahoma Baptist on Tuesday night at Wes Harmon Field.
 
With a win, the Crimson Storm (5-10, 3-3 GAC) would've secured a bid to host the GAC Championships in the first week of November, something they've never achieved in school history. A record crowd was on hand in Bethany as SNU tried to make history, but the Bison (3-12, 2-4) had other plans for the Storm.
 
It was a tale of two halves as Oklahoma Baptist outshot Southern Nazarene 8-2 in the first half, and SNU responded with 13 shots in the second. OBU landed 12 shots on goal while the Storm finished with eight on target.
 
Senior Pedro Garcia went out with a bang in his final game at Wes Harmon Field as he scored his second goal of the season on his only shot attempt. Following a two-goal finish last Saturday, Cristian Hernandez fired a team-high six shots and put four of those on frame in the match, while Cutter Smith and Caleb Gray also had a shot on goal for SNU as well.
 
Freshman Angel Lopez scored his third goal of the season on a penalty kick, while Carlos Castellanos got the start in goal for the Storm and he finished with eight saves on the night.
 
Oklahoma Baptist took the first match against SNU in Shawnee earlier in the season, and they wasted no time in picking up where they left off as Jesus Andrade fired a rocket 40 yards across the pitch that found the upper part of the net in the 10^th minute to give OBU the quick 1-0 lead.
 
Dominic Gibson gave the Bison a 2-0 advantage with 58 seconds left in the first half, as the Crimson Storm had to turn their aggressiveness up in the second period. And boy did they make things interesting.
 
Smith crossed one into the box in the 57^th minute that got deflected back to Garcia who fired a laser past the OBU goalie to cut the lead to 2-1. The Bison however, extended their lead to 3-1 in the 64^th minute as Abdoulaye Bah used his 6'7 frame to head a ball to the back of the net.
 
Lopez was taken out inside the box in the 67^th minute, which resulted in a PK. He put it easily in the back of the net to give the Storm some life heading into the final stretch. Alejandro Castillo provided the penultimate punch in the 78^th minute with his goal to essentially put the match out of reach for Southern Nazarene.
 
With the loss, Southern Nazarene will not host the GAC Championships in Bethany, but still have an excellent chance to finish second in the conference. The match next week between Harding and Ouachita Baptist will decide which seed the Storm will have heading into postseason play, as they can enter no lower than the third seed.

The Crimson Storm concluded their GAC schedule for the regular season Tuesday, and now finish the year with three non-conference tune-ups on the road before postseason play begins.
 
Their next match will be against Delta State next Tuesday afternoon in Cleveland, Mississippi with kickoff set for 3 p.m.