DALLAS – West Texas A&M men’s soccer couldn’t mount a late comeback as the Buffs dropped a Lone Star Conference match-up to Dallas Baptist, 2-1. The Buffs fall to 2-6-4 overall and 0-2-3 in LSC play while the Patriots improve to 3-3-6 overall and 2-1-2 in conference play.
Dallas Baptist threatened to take the lead early in the match, earning a corner kick 95 seconds in. On the reentry, Luke Southerington pushed the ball over the crossbar as a Patriots attacker came in for the contested pass. The early aggression from DBU slowly went away as the WT defense closed passing lanes and flipped the field. In the 14th minute, a foul on the Buffs set up a free kick outside the box for Peyton Voelker. Voelker’s kick went direct to goal where Southerington punched the ball in the air before corralling the opportunity to record a save. WT found its way on the scoreboard first in the 21st minute as a handball inside the box gave the Buffs a penalty kick. Stepping up to take the penalty, Theo Bennetts buried his shot into the corner of the goal. DBU answered 10 minutes later as Gavyn Rosales put in his own rebound after an initial save by Southerington. Immediately after the tying goal, WT went down the pitch where a leading pass from Matteo Landais gave Dominic Murphy a one-on-one chance with Patriots goalkeeper Garrett McGee. With McGee off his line, Murphy powered a shot toward the open goal, but McGee deflected the ball away to keep the game tied. Southerington came up big in goal once again with less than five minutes to play in the half as Voelker slipped between two defenders. With Voelker nearing goal, the DBU attacker ripped a shot where Southerington stood his ground to make a save. After an aggressive 45 minutes of play, the two teams went to the locker room tied at one.
After gaining momentum at the end of the first half, the Patriots didn’t let halftime slow their attack to begin the second half. DBU earned a corner less than two minutes into the period where a crossing pass challenged the Buffalo back line. With the Patriots threatening, Southerington punched the ball clear of the goal. In the 55th minute, DBU took a lead it wouldn’t relinquish as another corner kick sent into the box bounced around. With a WT player challenging, Avery Brazzell finished the ball into the back of the net. The Buffs wouldn’t go away without a fight as pressure turned into a scoring chance in the 71st minute. After a failed clearance went to Roman Clevenot, Clevenot blasted a one-timer but watched his try go just over the corner of the goal. The Patriots nearly put the game out of reach in the 83rd minute when an attack netted a score but came back when a player was waved offside. In the game’s closing minutes, WT nearly forced a draw when a DBU foul put the Buffs on the doorstep. On the restart, a Murphy header deflected off a defender toward the open goal. With the ball inches away from crossing the goal line, McGee made a diving save to secure the game…