LONGVIEW, Texas -- Down three goals late in the first half, the LeTourneau women's soccer team scored twice before the end of the period but could not complete the comeback in the second half in a 3-2 loss to Howard Payne on Saturday evening at the Joyce Family Athletic Village.
LeTourneau celebrated its senior class before the match as
Ilene Corella,
Kiersten Reeser, Skylar Thomassie, and graduate assistant coach
Suzie Pjecha were honored. Reeser added to her career total with six saves as she finished her LeTourneau tenure with a program-record 297 career stops to go along with a program-best eight shutouts.Â
Howard Payne (6-9-2, 2-6-1 ASC) struck for three scores in the first half. Katie Burnside put the visiting Yellow Jackets up 1-0 in the eighth minute with an unassisted goal. In the 11th minute, Kate Recendez scored from beyond the box, assisted by Shaylea Bolton, before Hannah Noel slotted one through in the 31st minute to make it 3-0.
LeTourneau (2-8-5, 0-6-3 ASC) did not stop and found the back of the net twice late in the half.
Brooke Vaughn scored her first career goal in the 42nd minute.
Shelby Smith played a ball into the box where it deflected off the line by a Howard Payne defender and Vaughn touched it in from short range to get the YellowJackets on the board.
Just over two minutes later, LeTourneau was back at it. In the 44th minute, another deflected ball into the box enabled
Zoe Harbison to play it in as she scored her first collegiate goal to get the YellowJackets within 3-2.
The LeTourneau defense stood tall in the second half to give the YellowJackets a chance to find the equalizer.
Brandy Moran, Harbison, and
Madelynn Nunez all had shots in the second half, but Howard Payne keeper Stephanie Sanders made a pair of saves to preserve the win for the guests.
Reeser made six saves in 62 minutes as she shared the net with
Abby King and
Kelauna Cruz. King tallied one save.
Emily Williamson made two saves and Sanders made three for Howard Payne.
HIGHLIGHT OF THE MATCH
