CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's soccer seven match unbeaten streak came to an end on Thursday night against #6 St. Edwards in front of 245 fans at The Pitch. The Buffs were unable to find an equalizer after allowing a goal in the 64th minute as the Hilltoppers walked away with a 1-0 victory. With the loss, the Buffs overall record dropped to 9-3-1 and 6-2-1 in Heartland Conference play while SEU improved to 12-1-0 (8-1-0).
"I am proud of the effort of our players tonight," said WT men's soccer head coach Butch Lauffer. "I thought our guys fought hard until the very end but we just weren't as sharp in front of goal tonight. When you play the better teams you are going to open chances and chances period. I was happy with the chances that we created but we just weren't as clinical as we have been."
Junior goalkeeper Patrick Satories made his only save of the first half at 10:07 when SEU's Ty Mobley got his head on a free kick. Both defenses were on display as the Buffs didn't record their first shot of the first 45 minutes until 35:50 when Fraser Barlow saw his shot blocked.
One of WT's best chances of the match came in the 38th minute on a corner kick from Ivan Ulloa. The sophomore from Wylie, Texas curled the ball over the Hilltoppers defenders heads straight onto the foot of Simon Sebbah who sent the ball wide to the left.
The Buffs finished the first half with three shots, all of those coming in the final 10 minutes of the half.
SEU went ahead 1-0 at 63:39 when Josh Taylor got on the end of a through ball from Dylan Armstrong before beating Satorie one-on-one. The Hilltoppers nearly doubled their lead at 64:65 but Satorie made an absolute beauty of a save as she tipped Armstrong's shot from just outside the penalty area over the cross bar.
The Buffs turned their attention to finding an equalizer and nearly had one at 73:34 but Troy Reeves header over a Christian Suthers' skimmed over the cross bar. WT continued to press men forward with center back Thomas Vickers joining the attack. The senior from Essex, England had the Buffs final chance on goal but his header was handle by SEU goalkeeper Kevin Leib.
The Buffs finished the match with eight shots compared to the Hilltoppers' 11. The two teams combined for nine corner kicks with six of those coming from WT.
Satorie made a season-high six saves, five of those coming in the second half alone.
The Buffs will now turn their attention to Saturdays, Oct. 15, match against the Patriots of Dallas Baptist. Kick-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. at The Pitch.
Notes:
· The Buffs now lead the all-time series 13-6-0.
· Fraser Barlow lead the team in shots (2) for the first time this season.
· It marks the fourth time this season that the Buffs have been shutout.
· The Buffs are now 3-2-0 when they allow one goal and when the opponent has more shots.
· Butch Lauffer's 300 win will have to wait one more match as he now sits at 299-138-33.
