TYLER, Texas – Fighting to the bitter end, the East Texas Baptist University had #9 Texas-Tyler on the edge before the Patriots scored two goals in the final 17 minutes ending the Tigers season, 4-2, in the first round of the American Southwest Conference tournament. ETBU was tied with top seeded Texas-Tyler at the half, 2-2, but the fire power of the Patriots proved to be too much in the end. ETBU finishes the season at 5-13 overall.
The match was moved to the Texas-Tyler Intramural Field due to unsuitable playing conditions on Citizens 1st Bank-Perkins Soccer Complex. Texas-Tyler improves to 16-0-1 and advances to the semifinal round of the ASC Championship Tournament to be played on Friday in Abilene, Texas, on the campus of Hardin-Simmons University.
During the opening half of play, Texas-Tyler struck first during the ninth minute to move ahead, 1-0. Following a foul assessed against ETBU, Nikki Gordon scored on a free kick. In all, Texas-Tyler fired off the night's first five shots before ETBU registered a shot of its own.
In the 17th minute, ETBU found the equalizer on a set piece. After a foul against Texas-Tyler, Sasha Kotowych lined up for a free kick and found the right upper-90 to tie the match, 1-1. That goal represented the first for Kotowych in 61 career matches played at ETBU.
Less than four minutes passed before Texas-Tyler reassumed the lead. With the match now into the 20th minute, Kayla Akin sent a cross to teammate Morgan Monzingo who finished to push Texas-Tyler ahead by a 2-1 margin. Later on in the 38th minute, Chase Swann sent off a corner kick toward the Texas-Tyler penalty, and the play resulted in what was ruled as an own goal to knot up the match, 2-2.
ETBU registered another shot on-goal of the match in 40th minute, but Heather Brady's header was stopped by Emily Hurley for a goalkeeper save. As the match reached halftime, the score remained at 2-2. During the first half, Texas-Tyler held a 17-to-2 advantage in shots as well as a 5-to-1 edge in corner kicks.
In the second half, Texas-Tyler yet again let off the first five shot attempts, including a shot on-goal by Brittany Matthews in the 47th minute. Still the match score stayed 2-2 until the 74th minute. Chestley Strother sent a shot past ETBU goalkeeper Christina Salas to reclaim the lead for Texas-Tyler, 3-2. Not even two minutes later, Texas-Tyler scored again with Kathleen Johnson finishing on a feed from teammate Maci Feliz in the 76th minute to account the final score.
When the match ended, Texas-Tyler held a 39-to-3 advantage in shots, including a 16-to-4 edge in terms of shots on-goal. Kotowych fired off a pair of shots on-goal, while Brady had one herself. Salas made 11 saves in goal for ETBU, and Hurley stopped a pair of shots between the posts for Texas-Tyler.
ETBU ends its 2015 season with five wins and advancing to their fifth tournament in nine years.
