RICHARDSON, Texas - Going toe to toe with the No. 3 team in the American Southwest Conference, the LeTourneau University men's soccer team would find themselves on the losing end of a 1-0 overtime loss at the University of Texas-Dallas at the UTD Soccer Field in Richardson, Texas on Thursday, October 26th.
LETU falls to 3-8-4 overall and 3-5-2 in the ASC while the Comets improved to 9-5-2 and 6-3-1 in conference play.
The YellowJackets were put into a position to play defense from the start as UTD would let off their first shot just 29 seconds into the game. LeTourneau would look to take advantage of counter attacks that would be made possible from the Comets pressuring the ball into the attacking third of the field as shots by
Porfirio Benitez and
Alec Wier would give the YellowJackets their first opportunities of the game.
Texas-Dallas would draw a foul in the box in the 25th minute, leading to a penalty kick and prime opportunity to break a scoreless deadlock but would see the penalty kick saved by LETU goalie
Miguel Cabrera. UTD would earn a corner kick following the save which would lead to another shot that would end up sailing high of the net. The final eight shots of the first half would go to the Comets, but no damage would be seen for the YellowJackets as the game would remain tied going into intermission.
In the second half, each team would start to see opportunities open up with the pace taking on a similar feel to the first half with both teams looking to utilize the full width of the field. Another counterattack by LeTourneau would see the ball played the lenghth of the field to a pressing
Varney Carter who would beat the UTD goalkeeper to the ball who was coming out to make a save. Carter would pitch the ball over John Nicknish, but see the opportunity hit off the crossbar and back into play as LETU would nearly take a 1-0 lead.
Shots would continue coming at a steady pace throughout the duration of the regulation, with both teams having to make diving saves which would end up sending the game into extra time.
Texas-Dallas would continue their defensive press on LeTourneau in extra time, forcing the YellowJackets back into their own third which would allow the Comets to put up four shots in the opening five minutes of overtime. UTD would earn a corner kick that would wind up in a shot by Jordan Henderson, but another save by Cabrera kept the Comets off the board. A second corner kick with just one minute remaining in the second overtime would be cleared out by LETU before being sent back into the box by Jesse Ardila who would find Danny Meyer to net the only goal of the game with 53 seconds left in extra time.
Cabrera would come up big all night long, making 12 saves on the night while facing a total of 30 shots by the Comets. LeTourneau would put up 13 shots in the game, led by Benitez with four shots and Wier with three shots.
The YellowJackets will play their final game of the regular season on Saturday afternoon, heading to Brownwood Texas to square off with Howard-Payne University at 3:30 p.m. Last year against HPU, LETU would drop a 3-2 overtime decision at home. The last three games between LeTourneau and Howard Payne have wound up going to overtime.
