SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The West Texas A&M men's soccer team suffered their first loss of the 2016 season on Saturday afternoon against Drury University. The Buffs dropped the 1-0 decision to the Panthers in the fourth all-time meeting between the two programs. With the loss, the Buffs record drops to 1-1 while DU improved to 2-0.
"We were disappointed not to get a result today," head coach Butch Lauffer said. "I feel like we executed our game plan except for allowing the early goal. The numbers show that we had a clear advantage in shots but we were unable to score."
Drury jumped out to the lead in the first minute when Charles Guelly slotted a goal past junior Casey Tilly from five yards out. The Buffs took no time to respond earning a corner kick in third minute but were unable to do anything with it.
Sophomore Ivan Ulloa recorded WT's first shot in the 12th minute just before Christian Suther's strike was saved by the Panther's keeper Nicolas Hein in the following minute.
Gabe Williams recorded his first shot on goal of the season in the 21st minute but Heinr was there to preserve the Panthers' lead. The Buffs continued looking for an equalizer when Rafael Vasconcellos shot was blocked followed by a shot wide from Williams in the 34th minute.
Chris Johnson nearly brought the Buffs level in the 43rd but he shot was saved by Hein. WT ended the first half with a 7-1 advantage in shots while earning all three corners in the first 45 minutes.
WT got their first chance of the second half on a shot from Sean Dublin in the 64th minute. Johnson followed that up with a shot of his own that was blocked by the Panthers.
Senior Jake Wiffen recorded his first shot of the game in the in the 84th but was unable to get it past Hein. Their final scoring chance came from courtesy of a corner of Ulloa in the final minute but the Buffs were unable to find an equalizer.
The Buffs closed the match with a 12-5 shot advantage with four of those on goal.
Junior Casey Tilly made his first career start in goal for the Buffs.
Notes:
· Substitute Chris Johnson led the team with three shots. He was one of four Buffs with a shot on target.
· Even in the loss, WT still leads the all-time series 3-1-0.
· Six players played the full 90 minutes.
