WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The West Texas A&M men's soccer team saw its two match winning streak snapped by rival Midwestern State on Thursday night in its Heartland Conference opener. The Buffs allowed two first half goals in the 5-0 loss to the Mustangs.  With the loss, the Buffs record falls to 3-2 overall and 0-1 in conference play while MSU improves to 3-1-1 and 1-0 in conference play.

"We are all disappointed in the result," said WT head Butch Lauffer.  "We know that we are a better team than the score line shows tonight. We had some chances early on but the game changed when we went down to 10 men. It is hard to defend to that long against any team down a man."

The Buffs fell behind in the 7th minute on a strike from MSU's Christian Okeke. Laurence Chamberlain picked up the assists as Okeke's shot from the right wing found the left corner of the net.

The Buffs nearly levelled the match in the 21^st minute but Evan Bozman's shot bounced off the post. MSU added a second goal three minutes later when Okeke got on the end of a through ball for his second of the evening.

Tom Cowling recorded his first shot on goal of the season in the 36^th minute but was denied by Noah Fazekas. Just a minute later the Buffs went down to 10 men on a red card.

The Buffs were outshot 5-3 in the first half with Cowling's shot being the lone shot on goal. The teams combined for 20 fouls in the first 45 minutes.

MSU's Okekeo finished the hat trick in the 52^nd minute on a shot from the right side of the box. The Mustangs added two more goals in the final twenty minutes to make it 5-0.

Even down 5-0 the Buffs continued to attack and nearly pulled one back in the 86^th when Chris Johnson got on the end of one but was denied by Fazekas. WT continued to show fight in the 87^th minute but Jake Wiffen was unable to beat Fazekas.

The Buffs finished the match with eight shots, two of which were on frame, and a match-high five corners.

Patrick Satorie made his fourth start in goal for the Buffs and made one save.

The Buffs will now travel to Oklahoma City, Okla. for a match against Oklahoma Christian on Saturday, Sept. 17 at 1 p.m. Live stats can be found on GoBuffsGo.com under the men's soccer schedule page.

Notes:

·  Tom Cowling finished the match with a team-high two shots on goal. He was the only Buff to have more than one.

· Ruben Nielsen made his first appearance for the Buffs playing 36 minutes.

· The Buffs used a different starting XI for the fifth match in a row.

· MSU now leads the all-time series 28-17-3.

·  The Mustangs now leads the 2016-17 Highway 287 Challenge, 1-0.