LONGVIEW, Texas – Playing against a second-straight East Texas opponent, the LeTourneau University women's soccer team conceded the only goal of the game in the 67th minute to fall by a final score of 1-0 to the University of Texas-Tyler at the LETU Soccer Field on Thursday, October 11th.
 
The loss leaves LETU with a 7-4-1 overall record while the Patriots improved to 8-2-1 overall. Despite both teams being members of the American Southwest Conference, the game did not count toward conference standings as UTT will leave the ASC after this year as part of NCAA Division II reclassification.
 
How It Happened:

• Not much action would take place in the opening 45 minutes of play, as neither team would be able to hold on to possession and push the ball into the attacking third consistently throughout the first half.
• After a pair of corner kicks by Texas-Tyler that would lead to shots for the Patriots, the YellowJackets would put up a shot of their own from sophomore Jennifer Martin in the 16th minute but watch the shot sail wide right.
• Things would then go stagnant for the next 10 minutes of action until a shot from UTT forced one of four first-half saves from LETU keeper Mackenzie Wilbanks as Patriots would outshoot LeTourneau 12-4 in the first half.
• After withstanding the first half barrage to keep the score tied at 0-0 heading into halftime, LeTourneau would start the second half with a more offensive mindset and hold possession in the Texas-Tyler half of the field before the Patriots would reclaim possession and push things back over to the YellowJacket half of the field 15 minutes into the period.
• With the match still scoreless in the 64th minute, UTT would make a trio of subs that would almost instantaneously pay dividends as replacement Kiara Rolen take a shot from just outside the 18-yard box and find the back of the net to put the Patriots up 1-0 at the 66:21 mark.
• Looking to tie the score in the final minutes, LETU would be provided prime opportunities with a pair of shots in the 80th and 81st minutes as Madison Urbana would force a save and Rebekah Stevenson would put a header over the net.
• The two shots would ultimately prove to be the final opportunity for the YellowJackets as Texas-Tyler would manage to keep LeTourneau out of the attacking third of the field for the remainder of the game to hold on to the one goal victory.

Key Stats:

• In what proved to be an extremely competitive match, the only outlier in the box score would be a 22-7 advantage for the Patriots in shots as LETU would hold a 4-3 advantage in corner kicks.
• Wilbanks would turn away 10 shots for the YellowJackets to keep them in the match the entire night, with six saves coming in the second half.
• Junior Kelli Sonnier would be the only LETU player to record more than one shot in the contest, finishing the match with two.

What's Next?
Returning to ASC action on Saturday afternoon, LeTourneau will look to rebound with a 1 p.m. matchup with the University of the Ozarks at the LETU Soccer Field. The Eagles earned a 2-0 victory over East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas on Thursday night.