The Sam Houston State University soccer team will travel to Louisiana this weekend to compete in two crucial conference matches against Southeastern Louisiana and Nicholls State.
The Bearkats ended their three-game home stand on Friday against the Northwestern State University Demons, where the team fell in their third double over time of the season 3-2.
“At times we did quite well,” head coach Tom Brown said. “We stuck with what the game plan was, moved well with the ball and had a good goal off the bat.”
12 minutes into the first half, the Bearkats took an early 1-0 lead after scoring their first goal of the game. The goal came from freshmen forward Kaylee Davis after an assist from freshmen midfielder Taylor Pritchard.
The Bearkats held the lead until 33 minutes into the first half after a midfielder for the Demons broke past freshmen goalie Anna Kaiser to tie the game. Before the first half was over, NSU put another goal past the Bearkats and closed the half 1-2.
“We lost our way a little bit with their [NSU] counter attacks,” Brown said. “They way they play is a bit disruptive than the way we play because they are so direct.”
In the second half, the Bearkats tied the score 2-2 from a goal by freshmen forward Hayden Oswalt with assist from senior forward Madison Cannon. With no goals from the Demons during the second half, the game went into overtime.
Neither team was able to end the match in the opening overtime period, but less than two minutes into double over time, the Demons scored, but not without a fight from the Bearkats.
The SHSU defense blocked a threating kick on goal but the Demons managed to get a ball passed the Bearkats and into the back of the net.
During Friday’s match the Bearkats had a season high of 10 shots on goal. Davis, junior midfielder Beryl Smith and senior forward Allie Johnson each pasted two shots apiece while senior forward Maddy Panozzo, sophomore forward Lindesy Bienski, Oswalt and Cannon had a shot each.
“The team realized we let a win get away from us with NSU and we don’t want it to happen again, “ Brown said. “Both games this weekend are going to be really important for us since both teams are around us in the Southland standing. “
The Bearkats are tied for fifth in the SLC with SLU with a conference record of 2-3-1, while Nicholls is ranked 10 in conference with a record of 1-4-1
Over the weekend the SLU Lions took on Lamar University in Beaumont where they tied with the Cardinals 1-1. The previous weekend, SLU won in overtime against Texas A&M University Corpus Christi 1-0.
In the same game, senior goalie Hope Sabadash broke a school record for career saves. The senior has a career record of 359 saves while the previous mark was set in 1999 with 351.
Nicholls suffered their worst loss of the season against McNeese State over the weekend. The Colonels fell 4-0 and only had the opportunity to shot the ball five times while McNeese had 18.
The Bearkars will travel to Hammond, Louisiana on Friday to take on SLU at 7 p.m. The team will then travel to Thibodaux, Louisiana on Sunday where they will face off against Nicholls State at 1p.m.