Friday night's matchup between two ranked men's soccer teams at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium was every bit as exciting and dramatic as a fan of the sport could have hoped – but sadly University of the Incarnate Word found itself the loser in a 2-0 contest that was much, much closer than the final score would indicate.
“That was, by far, the best game from a pure excitement and atmosphere standpoint that we've had all season,” UIW head coach John Smith said. “Sadly we weren't on the winning end of things.”
West Texas A&M University – ranked #22 in NCAA Division II – got two goals from Ben Everson who was able to turn two long-distance passes into counter-attack goals against No. 16-ranked Incarnate Word in the 67th and 90th minutes of a great soccer match.
Incarnate Word (3-2-2) were unable to put away any of the 18 scoring chances (seven on-goal) they were able to develop in the contest. WTAMU, meanwhile, was 2-for-5 for on-net chances (the Buffs had 13 shots, overall, in the game) and could have had more goals on their side of the scoreboard were it not for two spectacular one-on-one saves by goalkeeper Ryan Eschenburg.
On the other side of the field, WT goalie Sebastian Furness made some great saves against UIW shots – including one where a low, on-net shot was deflected high by a WTAMU defender's foot and Furness was just able to get his hand up fast enough to push the shot over the crossbar.
The loss put Incarnate Word on a two-game losing skid going into Monday night's Mayor's Cup matchup against Division III power Trinity University at 7 p.m.
