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LeTourneau Women’s Soccer Makes Trek To Alpine For ASC Tournament Quarterfinal
LONGVIEW, Texas – Playing in the American Southwest Conference Tournament for the fourth consecutive season, the LeTourneau University women’s soccer team heads west to take on number-four seeded Sul Ross State University in the quarterfinal round in Alpine, Texas on Tuesday, October 30 at 2:00 p.m.
It will be the fifth all-time meeting between the YellowJackets and Lobos with Sul Ross State holding 2-1-1 overall record in the series over LETU. In their only meeting this season, Sul Ross State earned a 3-1 victory in Alpine over LeTourneau on September 29th. Both LETU and SRSU enter Tuesday’s match with a chance to continue past seasons as both squads have set new single-season records for wins this year.
LeTourneau will be making their sixth all-time appearance in the ASC Tournament, with the other appearances coming in 2005, 2006, 2015, 2016, and 2017. Sul Ross is in the ASC Tournament for the third-straight season while competing in their fourth-ever season of women’s soccer.
The winner of Tuesday’s matchup will earn their first ASC Tournament win in program history and advance to Friday’s ASC Tournament semifinal match that will take place at 5 p.m. in Abilene, Texas on Thursday, November 2.
Freshman Reagan Sandford leads LeTourneau with nine goals and eight assists this season for a total of 26 points, the third-most points in the ASC this season. The eight assists tie a single-season record at LETU, while the nine goals rank just outside the top-10 in a single-season. As a team, the YellowJackets are allowing 1.12 goals per game and 12.6 shots while scoring 2.12 goals on 12.7 shots per game.
Sul Ross State will be led by Aylin Villalobos who has scored eight goals and added one assist, with four of the eight goals coming as penalty kicks. Villalobos has also netted five game-winning goals and has taken a team-high 38 shots. The Lobos sport a 9-5 overall record and are 4-2 in home matches this season while allowing just 1.36 goals per contest.
A full rundown of this year’s ASC Tournament including all eight participating teams can be found here: 2018 ASC Women’s Soccer Tournament Central.
LeTourneau Men’s Soccer Falls 2-1 In Regular-Season Finale To Texas-Dallas
LONGVIEW, Texas – Looking to build momentum heading into next week’s American Southwest Conference Tournament, the LeTourneau University men’s soccer team saw a goal in the 71st minute be the difference in a 2-1 home loss to the University of Texas-Dallas at the LETU Soccer Field on Saturday, October 27.
LETU is now 6-8-2 overall and will enter next week’s ASC Tournament as the number six seed while the Comets improved to 11-2-2 overall and will be the top overall seed in the ASC Tournament.
How It Happened:
Most of the action in the opening 20 minutes of play would take place in the middle third of the field limiting opportunities for both sides.
After earning a pair of corner kicks in the 8th minute, UTD would struggle to break through the YellowJacket back line until the 18:35 mark as a shot would sail wide left.
Beginning to put pressure on LeTourneau’s defense, Texas-Dallas managed to send a ball into the 18-yard box that would get headed around before landing into the back of the net to take a 1-0 lead.
The lead would be short-lived however as just 1:41 later LETU would get an own goal off of a failed clearance to tie the match at 1-1.
Only one more shot would be found in the rest of the first half as Moises Soto-Barrera would take a chance from a distance but be turned away by Chase Therrien.
Similar to the beginning of the match, there wouldn’t be much action in the attacking thirds of the field to start the second half as neither team could get a prime opportunity to find a go-ahead goal.
LeTourneau would manage to put up a pair of shots from Cordrick Sabbatini and Teddy Bogbawith just over 20 minutes remaining in the match, but see the score remained tied.
The Comets tried to turn defense into offense and would move the ball down the field and take advantage of a cross over the 18-yard box to an open attacker on the back side base that the YellowJackets would get as the Comets would hang on.
Key Stats:
Putting pressure on UTD when they had the chance, five of LeTourneau’s six shots would come on goal while allowing just four shots on goal to Texas-Dallas.
LETU’s only shot of the first half would come on the own goal to tie the score at 1-1 as the YellowJackets would have to fend off five shots from the Comets.
Leyva would make two saves in the match, playing all 90 minutes between the pipes.
What’s Next?
A prime-time rematch with Concordia University Texas will take place on Tuesday, October 30 at 7:00 p.m. The match will take place at the Round Rock Multipurpose Complex in Round Rock, Texas, which saw the Tornadoes earn a 4-1 victory over the YellowJackets earlier this season. LETU would tie the match with 16 minutes left in the game before allowing late goals for CTX to pull away.
LeTourneau Women’s Soccer Drops Home Finale To Texas-Dallas
LONGVIEW, Texas – Falling behind by a score of 3-0 midway through the second half, the LeTourneau University, women’s soccer team would be unable to mount a comeback in a 3-1 home loss to the University of Texas-Dallas at the LETU Soccer Field on Saturday, October 27th.
With the regular-season complete, LETU will enter postseason play with a record of 11-5-1 while the Comets improved to 15-1-1 overall.
How It Happened:
Facing a barrage of shots in the opening minutes, the YellowJackets would see the Comets breakthrough with a goal in the 6th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
UTD would continue to try and set the tone early on in the first period, putting up the first seven shots of the match before freshman Reagan Sandford would send a shot just right of the goal for LeTourneau.
LETU’s defense would manage to step up for the rest of the opening 45 minutes despite facing 14 shots from the Comets as the deficit would remain 1-0 at halftime.
As they have done all year, the YellowJackets would come out of the break and try to overcome their deficit by taking possession to start the second half.
Earning a corner kick in the 60th minute, Texas-Dallas managed to put a ball right in front of the goal line that would be headed past the LETU keeper to make the score 2-0.
After making a host of substitutions, LETU would concede another corner kick to the Comets at the 65:48 mark as UTD would manage to score another goal off a set piece and take a 3-0 lead with not much going in favor of LeTourneau.
A break for the YellowJackets would finally come in the 76th minute as a shot from the top of the 18-yard box from Brittany Shipp would be turned away but get tapped in by senior Victoria Ratliff to cut the deficit to 3-1.
LETU would manage to put up two more shots heading into the final minute of action before earning a penalty kick but would see diving save from Monical Dallacasa preserve the two-goal victory for the Comets.
Key Stats:
LeTourneau would outshoot Texas-Dallas 8-6 in the second half but would get outshot in the match 20-9.
Shots on goal would also break in favor of the Comets, with 11 of the 20 shots from UTD coming on goal compared to just five of nine for LETU.
Sandford would lead the YellowJackets with two shots in the match as five of the nine shots were from starters.
What’s Next?
Playing in the American Southwest Conference Tournament for the fourth-straight season, LETU will make the long trek to Alpine, Texas to take on Sul Ross State University as the number five seed in the tournament. Kickoff will take place on Tuesday, October 30 at 2:00 pm. The match will be the second time that the two teams have met in Alpine this season as the Lobos earned a 3-1 victory over the YellowJackets earlier this season.
LeTourneau Women’s Soccer Drops Home Finale To Texas-Dallas
LONGVIEW, Texas – Falling behind by a score of 3-0 midway through the second half, the LeTourneau University, women’s soccer team would be unable to mount a comeback in a 3-1 home loss to the University of Texas-Dallas at the LETU Soccer Field on Saturday, October 27th.
With the regular-season complete, LETU will enter postseason play with a record of 11-5-1 while the Comets improved to 15-1-1 overall.
How It Happened:
Facing a barrage of shots in the opening minutes, the YellowJackets would see the Comets breakthrough with a goal in the 6th minute to take a 1-0 lead.
UTD would continue to try and set the tone early on in the first period, putting up the first seven shots of the match before freshman Reagan Sandford would send a shot just right of the goal for LeTourneau.
LETU’s defense would manage to step up for the rest of the opening 45 minutes despite facing 14 shots from the Comets as the deficit would remain 1-0 at halftime.
As they have done all year, the YellowJackets would come out of the break and try to overcome their deficit by taking possession to start the second half.
Earning a corner kick in the 60th minute, Texas-Dallas managed to put a ball right in front of the goal line that would be headed past the LETU keeper to make the score 2-0.
After making a host of substitutions, LETU would concede another corner kick to the Comets at the 65:48 mark as UTD would manage to score another goal off a set piece and take a 3-0 lead with not much going in favor of LeTourneau.
A break for the YellowJackets would finally come in the 76th minute as a shot from the top of the 18-yard box from Brittany Shipp would be turned away but get tapped in by senior Victoria Ratliff to cut the deficit to 3-1.
LETU would manage to put up two more shots heading into the final minute of action before earning a penalty kick but would see diving save from Monical Dallacasa preserve the two-goal victory for the Comets.
Key Stats:
LeTourneau would outshoot Texas-Dallas 8-6 in the second half but would get outshot in the match 20-9.
Shots on goal would also break in favor of the Comets, with 11 of the 20 shots from UTD coming on goal compared to just five of nine for LETU.
Sandford would lead the YellowJackets with two shots in the match as five of the nine shots were from starters.
What’s Next?
Playing in the American Southwest Conference Tournament for the fourth-straight season, LETU will make the long trek to Alpine, Texas to take on Sul Ross State University as the number five seed in the tournament. Kickoff will take place on Tuesday, October 30 at 2:00 pm. The match will be the second time that the two teams have met in Alpine this season as the Lobos earned a 3-1 victory over the YellowJackets earlier this season.
LeTourneau Men’s Cross Country Finishes Fifth At ASC Championships
ABILENE, Texas – The LeTourneau University men’s cross country team finished in fifth place at the 2018 American Southwest Conference Men’s Cross Country Championships hosted by McMurry University at the Abilene Christian University Cross Country Course in Abilene, Texas on Saturday, October 27.
With a total of 105 points, LETU finished just behind the University of the Ozarks took fourth with 101 points. The University of Texas-Dallas won the meet with 50 total points followed by Hardin-Simmons University (54 points) and East Texas Baptist University (99 points).
The YellowJackets would get top-20 finishes from senior Michael Field (175h) and sophomore Lorien Nightingale (17th) as the duo would finish with times of 28:51.43 and 29:01.56, respectively. Just off the pace of Nightingale was Nathan Glastetter who finished 26th with a time of 29:39.70 while Daniel Lopez (30:39.06) and Jared Rose (30:41.77) finished in 40th and 41st place. Wesley Anderson would take 44th overall with a time of 30:55.28 and Matt Nusser finished in 63rd (32:09.46).
LETU would find two student-athletes on the All-Conference list as Field and Nightingale both earned second-team All-ASC honors. A part of the post-race awards ceremony announced the all-conference list
LeTourneau will now prepare for the 2018 NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional Meet which will be on Saturday, November 10 in Mount Berry, Georgia.
LeTourneau Women’s Cross Country Takes Fourth At ASC Championships, Alexis Segura Wins Individual Title
ABILENE, Texas – Junior Alexis Segura became just the second runner in school history to win the American Southwest Conference Cross Country Individual Title as the LeTourneau University women’s cross country team finished in fourth-place at the ASC Championships at the Abilene Christian University Cross Country Course in Abilene, Texas on Saturday, October 27.
As a team, LETU finished with 90 points, just six points back of third-place Texas-Dallas. Hardin-Simmons University won the team title with a total of 56 points followed by McMurry University with 80 points.
Segura clocked a time of 23:51.24, over 23 seconds better than the second-place finish from Caroline Vining of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Earning a top-15 finish in her first ASC Championship race was freshman Logan Parish (14th) with a time of 25:54.89 while McKenzie Craycraft took 23rd with a time of 26:45.69.
Bridey Davis finished the cross country career with a 36th place finish and a time of 28:27.65 while Allison Fuller earned a 39th place finish with a time of 28:39.42. Kali Carter (41st, 28:48.64) and Julianne Hood (73rd, 34:02.57) also ran in the meet for LeTourneau.
Following the race, Segura would be named first-team All-ASC for the second straight year while Parish earned second-team All-ASC honors.
LeTourneau will now turn their focus to the NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional Meet will take place on Saturday, November 10th in Mount Berry, Georgia hosted by Berry University.
Penalty Kick In Second Overtime Stuns LeTourneau Men’s Soccer vs. Howard Payne
LONGVIEW, Texas – Following a chance to win the game in overtime on a penalty kick, the LeTourneau University, men’s soccer team would see a penalty kick from Howard Payne make the difference in a 2-1, two overtime home defeat at the LETU Soccer Field on Thursday, October 25.
With the loss, LETU now sits at 6-7-2 overall and 5-4-1 in the American Southwest Conference while HPU improved to 5-8-0 overall and 4-6-0 in the ASC.
How It Happened:
LeTourneau managed to put pressure on Howard Payne from the opening whistle, putting a shot on goal from Christian Hunter just 20 seconds into the game.
After earning a corner kick, LETU would be forced back into the defensive third of the field as HPU would find chances of their own just a few minutes later with a pair of shots that wouldn’t pose a severe threat.
Holding possession in the LeTourneau defensive third, Howard Payne would send a cross into the 18-yard box that would wind up deflecting off an LETU player and into the back of the net for an own goal to put HPU up 1-0 12:56 into the match.
The uphill climb for LeTourneau would become even more difficult just over five minutes later as a red card would send off a player for LETU and give Howard Payne an 11 against 10 advantage moving forward.
Overcoming the adversity thrown their way, LeTourneau would be awarded a penalty kick in the 36th minute following a foul from HPU in the 18-yard box that would allow Zachariah Malik to step up and knot the score at 1-1.
Howard Payne would look to respond just a few minutes later and put up a pair of shots, forcing one save from LETU goalie C.J. Leyva.
Both teams headed into the second half with the score still tied at 1-1, the match would become more of a possession style of game due to worsening field conditions as traction on the field would be hard to come by.
A David Trost shot from 25 yards out in the 60th minute would very nearly put LETU up 2-1 before sailing just left of the goal as neither team would be able to find many opportunities moving forward.
The game would become a battle of 10-against-10 following a red card against a Howard Payne player in the 79th minute as each team would make one final push to find a go-ahead goal.
Howard Payne would manage to put a ball through the LETU defensive back line to a surging forward who would end up putting a shot off the crossbar before seeing a second shot off the rebound get just barely turned away by Leyva in the 88th minute.
With neither team able to find a game-winning goal in the second period, the game would go to overtime where LeTourneau would be awarded a penalty kick at the 91:38 mark.
Sending Moises Soto-Barrera up to take the kick, Howard Payne goalkeeper Andrew Hackney would guess correctly and make a diving save to keep the game going as the rest of the overtime period would go without a goal.
In the second extra period, LETU would get off a shot from Cordrick Sabbatini that would sail wide left in the opening minute, which would give the ball back to Howard Payne on a goal kick.
Moving the ball down the field, HPU would be awarded a corner kick and then a penalty kick for an LETU foul inside the 18-yard box with a chance to win the game.
With just 6:45 remaining in the match, HPU’s Michael Westerman would put a shot in the lower right corner of the goal that would be deflected by Leyva but have just enough power on it to find a way into the net for a game-ending goal.
Key Stats:
With a total of 31 shots in the game, HPU would outshoot LETU by a total of 17-14 and hold an 8-4 advantage in shots on goal.
Leyva would be busy for most of the night, turning away six shots and coming out of the goal area multiple times to clear the ball away to try and reset field position for LeTourneau.
12 of LETU’s 14 shots would come from the starting 11, including a team-high three shots from Malik.
What’s Next?
Senior night is scheduled to take place on Saturday, October 27 for LeTourneau when they play host to the University of Texas-Dallas at 7:30 pm. The Comets were scheduled to play East Texas Baptist University on Thursday evening but had their match postponed 1:00 pm on Friday which will be played in Bossier City, Louisiana. LETU will honor three seniors on Saturday evening (David Trost, David Pinilla, Alec Wier) before the match.
LeTourneau Women’s Soccer Wins 3-1 Over Howard Payne
LONGVIEW, Texas – In a late-season American Southwest Conference showdown, the LeTourneau University Women’s Soccer team took down Howard Payne University with a 3-1 victory at the LETU soccer field on Thursday, October 25.
With the win, LETU improved to 11-4-1 overall and a 7-3-1 record in the American Southwest Conference. HPU drops to 2-11-1 overall and 2-7-1 in ASC action.
How it Happened:
LETU wasted no time, firing off the first five shots of the game during the opening ten minutes of play followed by three corner kicks. Despite the offensive threat, the LeTourneau would be unable to capitalize on the opportunities.
HPU would get a chance of their own with two shots in the 22nd minute that would be denied by freshman goalie, MacKenzie Wilbanks.
Just over nine minutes later in the 31st minute, LETU would manage to get on the board when a cross was sent in and deflected off an HPU defender resulting in an own goal to make the score 1-0.
The remainder of the first half would be scoreless as only two more shots were recorded in the final fourteen minutes of the period.
Wasting no time in the second period, junior Alexis Segura would find Jennifer Martin who sent a bulletin from the top of the box. After being slightly redirected by a leaping HPU defender, the ball found the corner of the net to give the YellowJackets a 2-0 lead.
Threatening again in the 70th minute, LeTourneau would earn a pair of corner kicks but come up empty as a header would be off the target of the goal.
LETU would get another opportunity just a few minutes later to add to their lead as Reagan Sandford would see her shot hit the crossbar and put right back in by teammate Kelli Sonnier to make the score 3-0 going into the final 16 minutes of play.
HPU wouldn’t go without a fight, however, earning a penalty kick in the 89th minute and scoring to break up the potential shutout for LeTourneau.
Key Stats:
LETU finished the match with a 25-13 advantage in shots and put up 17 shots on goal.
LeTourneau would also see a significant advantage in corner kicks earning 11 of the 18 awarded during the 90 minutes of play.
Making seven saves in the match, Wilbanks earned her eighth win between the pipes on the year while helping LETU set a new single-season record for wins.
What’s Next?
Returning to Longview for senior night, LeTourneau will play their final regular season match of the season against the University of Texas at Dallas in a 5:00 pm matchup on Saturday, October 27. The Comets will enter Saturday’s match on short rest as their match against East Texas Baptist University was pushed back on Thursday evening until Friday afternoon due to unplayable field conditions.
Matt Kinney
Sports Information Director
Office: 903-233-3735