DURANGO, COLORADO – West Texas A&M Women's Soccer (1-2-1) would be defeated 1-0 against Fort Lewis College Saturday afternoon. WT made a late surge in the final 20 minutes but were unable to find the equalizing goal.
The Lady Buffs would come out as the aggressors to start the game as they maintained consistent control of possession in their attacking half through the first 12 minutes. WT would register a corner kick and two shots during that span. Fort Lewis would flip the script as they led in possession over the next stretch of time.
Franciezca Blancaflor would come away with a clean save in the 13th minute and as a team, the Lady Buffs successfully defended a pair of consecutive corner kicks to keep the Skyhawks off the board. The teams would continue to battle in the defensive matchup. FLC would get on the board first in the 33rd minute as they crossed a ball into the box as it ricocheted off the head of a Skyhawk and landed right in front of the goal. FLC tapped it into the bottom left corner for the lead. WT came away with three shots in the first half as they would go into halftime trailing 1-0.
Coming out of the break, West Texas A&M started to find a groove as they generated two shots on goal in the first two minutes. The physicality on both sides started to pick up as the teams continued to fight for possession. Blancaflor continued to be stellar in between the pipes with five saves in the second half to keep the deficit at one. At the 70th minute, the Lady Buffs started to regain consistent possession of the ball as they did in the early stages of the game and were able to apply constant pressure on the Skyhawks defense. Battling against the Colorado altitude, WT made continuous substitutions to stay fresh and that ultimately helped maintain the wave of momentum and pressure in the final stages of the match. Fort Lewis did not crack under the pressure but constantly had their backs against the wall. In the final seconds of the game, West Texas A&M was awarded a corner kick with 12 seconds remaining. They would rush to set up and produce one last chance to tie the game.
Sara Soto would take the kick and place it in the middle of the box where it would bounce out amidst the frenzy. Blancaflor would make a sliding shot as time expired, but it would be headed out by Fort Lewis on a shot that nearly tied the game. WT would ultimately fall 1-0 in a tightly contested match.
Top Lady Buffs
- Franciezca Blancaflor tallied a season-high of eight saves to go along with one shot on goal. Blancaflor would pass Graduate Assistant Coach Daniel Estrada (2019-21, 81) in career saves with 88 and now sits in eighth place all-time. The Salado, Texas native is up 18 saves on the year and is 67 saves from passing Kelly Skehan (2009-10, 154) for seventh.
- Ryann Davis played all 90 minutes on defense. This was her second straight game and third game on the year playing every minute.
- Sara Soto notched two shots with one on goal in 82 minutes. This was her second game playing 80+ minutes this season.
Notables
Up Next
West Texas A&M will be back in action on Wednesday, September 9 as they open conference play against Lubbock Christian in Lubbock, Texas. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m.
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