TYLER, Texas - Going toe to toe with the number two team in the American Southwest Conference for the first 75 minutes of the game, the LeTourneau University men's soccer team saw a few unlucky bounces break for host Texas-Tyler in a 5-2 road loss in Tyler, Texas on Saturday, October 14th. 

Seeing their four-game ASC point streak snapped, the YellowJackets fell to 2-6-4 overall and 2-3-2 in conference while the Patriots improved to 7-2-3 and 6-1-1 in the ASC. 

LETU played an up and down first half against UTT, as a total of four goals would be scored in the opening 45 minutes of play. The YellowJackets striked first with a goal in the 10th minute from Eduardo Barron to take a 1-0 lead and stun the Patriots who came into tonight having not given up a goal in the previous three games. Texas-Tyler would draw a penalty kick in the 25th minute following a foul in the box and convert to tie the game at one when the fireworks really began. Just 48 seconds after the penalty kick, Lucas Pereira would bounce a shot past LeTourneau goalie Miguel Cabrera into the lower left corner for a goal and give the Patriots a 2-1 lead. 

Not to be outdone, junior Alec Wier responded to the goals by UTT with a goal a mere 29 seconds after the YellowJackets gave up the lead by going opposite corner to beat Patriot goalie John McGuffin. Following the flurry of three goals in a span of 1:17, the final 19 minutes of the half would go scoreless as both teams entered halftime with the score tied at two. 

The second half would start out with both teams sitting back and waiting for their opportunities to break through with only three shots put up in the first 30 minutes of the second period. Heading down the stretch, the Patriots would send a ball across the box in front of the goal line that Cabrera would be unable to hang on to and find the foot of another UTT player to break the deadlock and give Texas-Tyler a 3-2 lead. 

UTT would continue their scoring run by netting another goal off of a deflected shot would once again find an open Patriot to make the score 4-2 as the YellowJackets would be sent looking to fight back with only 13 minutes left in regulation. A fifth goal for the Patriots at the 85:50 mark would make the score 5-2 in favor of UTT, where it would end up as final. 

Texas-Tyler claimed a 17-7 advantage in shots and had a 9-5 advantage in shots on goal while also staking a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks. Wier led LeTourneau with three total shots while Zachariah Malik, Edgar Sanchez, David Sanchez, and Barron each put up one shot. 

A chance to rebound for the YellowJackets will be next up on Thursday, October 19th with a home game against Belhaven University at 7:30 p.m. The game will be LETU's first home game in over a month as the YellowJackets last played at home on September 16th. Belhaven will enter Thursday's contest with an overall record of 2-6-5 and a 1-4-2 record in the ASC.