Sam Houston brought a 651 minute shutout streak into the contest against rival Stephen F. Austin and it lasted less than five minutes as the Bearkats lost 2-1 Friday night.
Junior Megan Cash scored both goals for the Ladyjacks as they snapped the Bearkats seven game winning streak and moved into sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference.
The first score began off a lob by Kesia Broome from outside the box to a streaking Cash on the opposite side. Cash had gotten behind SHSU defender Nichole Watkins and when goalie Jenny Pence came out to contest the shot, Cash headed it over Pence and into the goal at the 4:26 mark.
Bearkat head coach Tom Brown said, “I think just early in the game we were a little bit tight and a little bit nervous. We’re a relatively young team and haven’t been in these positions before. I thought that they reacted okay to the first goal. I think they got their heads back and played.”
Sam Houston seemed to hit a switch following the initial score as they started to bring pressure which resulted in four shots, each saved by SFA keeper Courtney Bauder. However, SFA made Sam Houston pay for their aggressiveness.
At the 32:16 mark, Cash made another run as a shot towards the goal resulted in a rebound off of Pence. Cash capitalized as she stole the ball and shot it into an empty net resulting in a 2-0 lead they would take into halftime.
Brown said, “I think the second goal came a little bit against the grain of the game. I thought we had some opportunities going and going and going and they were able to slip one through our back line and get on the end of it.”
The Bearkats continued their offensive onslaught in the second half as they started with three corner kicks within four minutes that finally saw them get on the board.
On the third corner kick, the ball bounced into the middle of the goal box in front of a group of players and soon after SHSU’s Raquel Bueno shot it in at the 53:25 mark, making the score 2-1 with SFA on top.
Later in the game, the Bearkats came mere inches from tying the game after a shot by Natalie Pantel ricocheted off of the goal post in the 67th minute. In the end, SFA was able to hold on for the victory over SHSU.
The loss drops SHSU to a 7-2 record with a 2-1 SLC record while SFA improves to 5-5 with a 3-0 SLC record.
Sam Houston will host SLC opponents Texas State-San Marcos on Friday at 7 p.m. and Texas-San Antonio on Sunday at 1 p.m.