LONGVIEW -- LeTourneau University women's soccer team held on to beat Belhaven, 3-2, Saturday night in a key American Southwest Conference game at LETU Soccer Field.
The win broke a tie between the two teams in the league standings. LeTourneau moved into a tie for fifth in the ASC, while Belhaven fell into a four-way logjam for seventh.
The YellowJackets (7-5, 3-3 ASC) built a two-goal lead they kept in tack through 70 minutes before the Blazers (7-6-1, 2-4-0) made things interesting.
Kara Gipson scored in the 17th minute to put LETU ahead, 1-0. In the 51st minute, Skylar Thomasie banged home a rebound off
Reagan Sandford's initial shot stopped by Blazers goalkeeper Lilli Denson. That put the Jackets up 2-0.
Belhaven struck 20 minutes, cutting the deficit in half on Ashley Langham's nifty bicycle kick goal. Alex Trammel had the assist.
Less than three minutes later, the YellowJackets padded their lead back to two when
Riley Blok deposited
Brittany Shipp's setup. The Blazers answered again in the 81st minute when Emily Malcom converted on a free kick to draw within a goal once more.
Belhaven applied pressure in the late stages, but
Mackenzie Wilbanks stopped a shot by Peyton Papenburg prior to Malcom's goal. Wilbanks made a season-high nine saves. Blazers keeper Georgia Jordan stopped one shot before Denson took over. Denson had two saves.
The Blazers attempted 17 shots, including 11 on goal. The YellowJackets had 13 shots, six on frame.
LeTourneau will play at Ozarks 1 p.m. Thursday.
