Nov. 12, 2004

The West Texas A&M University women's soccer team fought hard and hung on for dear life, but came up short, losing to No. 2 Metro State College, 2-0, Friday afternoon in the NCAA-II Midwest Regional Semifinal match at Denver, Colo.

The fourth-seeded Lady Buffs end their season with a 13-6-1 overall record, after losing to top-seed Metro State for the third year in a row in the Midwest Regional and fourth consecutive time overall. Last year, MSC defeated WTAMU, 1-0, in the Regional Final on the same field and in 2002, the Roadrunners edged the Lady Buffs, 2-1, on penalty kicks in the Regional Semifinal at Canyon, Texas.

Metro State, ranked No. 2 in the NSCAA/adidas Top 25 Poll, won its 19th consecutive match and improve to 21-1-0, as the Roadrunners posted their 14 shutouts, outscoring their opponents, 97-9.

MSC fired a barage of shots at the WTAMU goal, as the Roadrunners outshot the Lady Buffs, 43-8 (24-5 in the first half), including 14-2 in shots on goal. WTAMU senior goalkeeper Jamie Roach made 12 saves, one below her season-high, in her final match in a Lady Buff uniform.

Also playing their final match for WTAMU were senior midfieler Nicole deJongh and defender Ashley Mosley, who played spectactular in controlling the damage to what it was and keeping WTAMU in the match. Senior midfielders Aubrie Hunter and Aubre Mjolhus also saw their Lady Buff career draw to a close with the loss.

Sophomore forward Sarit Shenar, WTAMU's leading scorer, was clamped down on by the Metro State defense, but was able to get off five shots, including one on goal, that just sailed wide off a free kick at the end of the first half.

Shenar's near-goal came moments after WTAMU had a goal taken away by an offsides call.

MSC got on the board at the 15:56 mark as Jamie Gwinner buried home a rebound off the post to give the Roadrunners a 1-0 lead.

That lead stood up for the remainder of the first half and into the second, until Ymara Guante took a feed from Marina McDonald and netted the ball to make the score 2-0 at the 59:44 juncture of the match.

The MSC defense then completely buttoned down the hatches for the victory.

The Roadrunners advance to the Regional Final on Sunday, hosting the winner of Friday's second semifinal match between Texas A&M University-Commerce and Regis University.

WTAMU was making its fourth-straight NCAA-II Regional appearance.

The Lady Buffs had five players earn LSC honors after competing in the Conference Tournament last weekend. Named to the LSC All-Conference first-team were sophomore forward Sarit Shenar, juniors Katie Henley and Roxy Sides. Shenar also was awarded the LSC Offensive Player of the Year. The lone Lady Buff on the second-team All-LSC list was senior Nicole deJongh, while senior Jamie Roach was honorable mention.

Earning spots on the All-LSC Tournament team were senior Ashley Mosley, Shenar, and Roach.

deJongh was named the LSC Academic Player of the Year, and had three teammates join her on the LSC All-Academic team: Shenar, Henley and Roach. Junior midfielder Whitney Cates and Mosley were Commissioner's Academic Honor Roll selections.