LONGVIEW -- The YellowJackets had a lot stacked against them.

For one, they entered the game minus a league win. Second, they were hosting one of the top teams in the American Southwest Conference. Third, a nearly 45-minute lightning delay didn't help maintain a flow after they had already established a foothold in this key league game of a huge weekend.

Nevertheless, LeTourneau University men's soccer team refused to allow any of the obstacles to deter the Jackets from picking up their first ASC victory. They did so with a prominent 2-1 win over McMurry Thursday night at LETU Soccer Field.

"It takes a lot of maturity to come back out and put on a good performance, and they did that tonight," YellowJackets coach Collin Cone said, referencing the delay and rain througout most of the game that sent the two teams into the locker rooms in the first half with LETU sitting on a one-goal lead. "This week, we worked on some new things, some new ideas, and the guys came out, they got the job done tonight and got a good result against a good team."

LeTourneau (3-5-2, 1-2-0 ASC) grabbed an early lead when Angel Rivera scored his first goal of the season on a blast a couple seconds shy of five minutes into the game. 

"We deserved our first conference win, and we just got to keep moving forward from here," Rivera said. "A lot of teams, I think, are looking over us. We just got to stay humble, and keep moving forward. Like I said, we've been playing good these past games, we just haven't gotten the result. Tonight it showed. We deserved it."

McMurry suffered its first conference loss in falling to 5-4-0, 2-1-0.

Both teams attempted nine shots in the first half, with YellowJackets goalkeeper Diego Berlingeri forced to make five saves. LETU took the one-goal lead into the halftime break, which came after the 45-minute lightning delay.

In the 72nd minute, LeTourneau struck again when Oliver Placencia notched his first goal of the season on an assist from Rivera. Placencia's goal was the gamewinner.

"They showed a lot of resilience tonight," Cone said. "The delays just makes for a weird atmosphere. We scored a good goal early, and we started defending a little bit too much, you know, sitting back too much, and them getting that goal in the end. But the biggest thing I learned from (my team) is that they're hard workers, and they want to fight and try to get a result. I feel like tonight they played more of a 90-minute game, and they played the way we want them to play."

McMurry's goal came in the 89th minute when Miguel Esteban converted a penalty kick as play turned chippy after three yellow cards were issued in the final 25 minutes.

Berlingeri finished with six saves. McMurry's Mark Pelaez stopped five shots in the loss. The YellowJackets outshot the War Hawks, 15-12, with both teams putting seven shots on frame.

"It was a huge result for us," Cone said. "It shows good resilience, and hard work has paid off."

The YellowJackets host No. 7/13-ranked Hardin-Simmons 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

POSTGAME INTERVIEW