LAREDO, Texas  – Junior Simon Sebbah's strike in the 82^nd minute proved to be the game winner as the Buffs defeated Texas A&M-International 2-1 on Thursday night in Laredo. The Buffs won their second consecutive match of the season after an early goal in the first half from Jake Wiffen before Sebbah tallied his first for WT. With the win, the Buffs improved to 5-2 overall and 2-1 in conference while the Dustdevils fell to 2-4 overall and 1-2 in conference.

"I am really proud of the team tonight and just how they fought for 90 minutes," said WT head coach Butch Lauffer. "We knew that it was going to be a tough game as Texas A&M-International is a good side. We made a few adjustments in the first half that really helped us out and Simon's timely goal near the end of the game proved to be the difference."

The Buffs got on the board quick courtesy of a goal from Wiffen at 10:01 in the first half. The senior midfielder from Essex, England scored his second goal in as many games after placing the ball past the charging Dustdevil goalkeeper, Antonio Romero. WT came close to get a second at 13:49 but Reece Schattle's shot was saved.

Ruben Nielsen made an immediate impact for the Buffs after coming on in the 39^th minute as he forced another Dustdevil save at 40:35. Tom Cowling took the resulting corner kick for the Buffs but nothing came of it.

The Buffs finished the finished the first half with four shots, three of those being on target.

The backline of Troy Reeves, Tom Cowling, Thomas Vickers and Ryan Kennedy weathered the Dustdevil attack for a majority of the second half until Buffs were able to add a second in the 82^nd minute.

"We knew that they were going to come out looking for an equalizer in the first 15 minutes of the second half and I feel that we did a good job defending," Lauffer said when asked about the play of his back line. "We did a good job of limiting their chances which led to us getting our second goal."

Junior Simon Sebbah scored his first career goal for the Buffs on a nice ball from Christian Suthers. The Paris, France native handled Suther's ball perfectly in the box before launching it into the top right corner of the net to give WT some breathing room.

The Dustdevils got one back in the 88^th minute on a penalty kick from Ryan Hodgson but it proved to be too little too late as the Buffs controlled possession until the final whistle.

The Buffs finished the match with 10 shots, five of those being on goal.

Satorie made two saves on his way to his fifth win of the season.  

The Buffs will finish their four match road trip Saturday, Sept. 22 against St. Mary's. The match is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. Links to live stats and video can be found at GoBuffsGo.com under the men's soccer schedule page.

Notes:

·  The Buffs are now 5-0-0 this season when they score first.

·  With the win, the Buffs now lead the all-time series 9-2-2 including a record of 5-0-1 in Laredo.

·  Jake Wiffen has now scored goals in back-to-back matches for the first time in his career.

·  The Buffs won for the first time this season after being outshot.