Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 The UT Dallas men's soccer teams had to settle for a split in their final two regular season home games this weekend, but the Comets are still in the running to finish as one of the top two teams in the American Southwest Conference, and possibly host the post-season ASC Tournament.
To do that, though, the Comets (10-4-2 overall) will likely need to win out in their final two road games this weekend at UT-Tyler and Concordia.
The Comets (8-1-2 in ASC games) won their Thursday night game with LeTourneau, 4-0, but were upset 3-0 by East Texas Baptist Saturday, leaving them in a tie for first place with Hardin-Simmons. The two teams, which have 26 points each, are sitting just ahead of UT-Tyler, which UTD meets Thursday night in Tyler. What those three teams do in the final regular season weekend will likely determine who will host the 2008 ASC Championship Tournament Nov. 7-9.
The showdown with Tyler is the key in that race since UTD needs to finish in either first place or second behind Hardin-Simmons to earn that privilege. By conference rule, the second-place men's team would host the tournament (in an even-number year) if the first place team in both the men's and women's race is from the same school. Currently, HSU's women's team leads the women's standings and will likely host that tournament, so the men's tournament would shift to the second-place team's home field.
The Comets could've headed into the final weekend with a lead in the standings had they not stumbled against ETBU Saturday. UTD dominated the game offensively early, but failed to put any of nine first-half shots on goal. While a number of Comet shots sailed high or wide of the net, ETBU managed to score two goals on just three first-half shots on net.
This left the Comets scrambling in the second half to get back in the game, and ETBU was able to lock things down defensively, continually frustrating the UTD attack. The Tigers, who remained in the playoff chase with the win, got their third goal when an errant pass from a Comet defender back to the goalkeeper got past him and ended up in the UTD net.
On Thursday night,
put on the offensive show against LETU, which still has a mathematical chance of getting into the tournament. Mitchell redirected a pass from
for the game's first goal just 3:16 into the match, then followed that up by assisting on a White goal just 3:16 later. He then added an insurance goal at the 77:38 mark, beating a group of LETU defenders in front of the net for an unassisted goal.
finished the Comet scoring with a penalty kick at 86:16 after he was fouled in the box. UTD dominated the game offensively, holding a 29-7 edge in shots; though Comet goalkeeper
