LONGVIEW & MARSHALL, TX (10.23-24.09) – The UT Dallas men's soccer team could not have picked a worse time of the season to go into a scoring slump. A pair of 1-0 road losses this weekend to LeTourneau and East Texas Baptist may have knocked the Comets out of any hope of returning to the American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament.
The Comets (now 8-6-3 overall) lost both early and late on the disappointing road trip. Against LeTourneau, UTD gave up the only goal of the game just 19 minutes in and then could not find a way to score. Against ETBU, the two teams were pitted in a 0-0 scoreless struggle until the Tigers scored with just seven minutes left to claim the win.
The losses have dropped UTD (now 5-5-1 in conference play) out of one of the top six positions in the ASC standings with just one week remaining in the regular season. The Comets would need to finish in one of those top six slots in order to qualify for the ASC Championship Tournament for the eighth consecutive year.
UTD, which is actually tied for 8th place currently, would likely need wins in both its final two home games (against UT-Tyler and Concordia) this week, and losses by the teams ahead of it in the standings to have a shot. UTD currently trails Mississippi College and UT-Tyler (both 5-3-3) and is tied with ETBU (5-4-1) for the sixth and final spot.
LETU 1, UTD 0 (boxscore)
LeTourneau University men's soccer team got their first conference home win of the season with a 1-0 victory over the University of Texas at Dallas Friday afternoon at the LETU Soccer Fields.
The YellowJackets ((5-6-4 overall, 2-5-3 ASC) broke the scoreless tie in the 19 th minute, and shut UTD down the rest of the way. The Comets (8-5-3, 5-4-1) had several opportunities in the second half, but couldn't get the ball past LeTourneau goalkeeper Kyle Davis, who made seven saves.
After a foul just left of the penalty area, Ben Stoeckmann played the ball to the back post on the free kick and Dillon Holt knocked it home for his eleventh goal of the season, giving LeTourneau a 1-0.
Jake Brandon only had to deal with five shots on goal, but was able to stop only four.
UT-Dallas out-shot LeTourneau, 25-8, and had a 7-3 advantage on corner kicks.
ETBU 1, UTD 0 (boxscore)
On Saturday, UTD and ETBU launched a combined 31 shots, but only managed 10 on goal. The match wasn't decided until the 83rd minute when ETBU's Chris Dier punched a Carlos Ortega corner kick into the net.
The Comets had their opportunities, posting an 11-3 advantage in corner kicks, but could not convert any of their scoring opportunities.
