ABILENE — Who knew two matches, played between the same two teams, a mere five days apart, could have such different outcomes.
That was the scene in Abilene on Thursday night. UMHB men’s soccer, the top seed in the 2024 American Southwest Conference Tournament and a team that hadn’t been beaten in league play this season, came up short against LeTourneau on a cloudy day accompanied by stretches of lightning and rain.
The final score went down as 0-0, but it is LeTourneau who advances to Sunday’s championship game. The two couldn’t break the tie in 90 minutes of regulation, so they moved on to overtime. And through two overtime periods, neither side found the back of the net. So it came down to penalty kicks. LETU found the back of the net on all four of its shots, with Ethan Carrillo’s shot to the left side of the frame sealing the win in PKs for the fourth-seeded Yellowjackets. UMHB converted on only one of its three attempts, as Carter Simpson’s shot, The Cru’s second, got past LETU goalkeeper Octavio Jacquez. Ironically, the 4-1 score in penalties that lifted the Yellowjackets past The Cru was the same score as the final result of the game played in Longview last Saturday between the two. Except the “4” sat next to UMHB’s place on the scoreboard.
UMHB went 1-0-2 against LETU this fall. The Yellowjackets were the only ASC team to battle The Cru to a tie during the regular season, with the first meeting between the two ending in a 1-1 draw in Belton. The second meeting, as mentioned, was a 4-1 win for UMHB.
It was a particularly difficult pill to swallow for The Cru, who entered the ASC Tournament as the No. 1 seed for the fourth straight year, yet now find themselves eliminated from the tournament in the semifinal round in consecutive seasons.
UMHB outshot LETU, 22-9, recording more shots than the Yellowjackets in both halves of regulation as well as in both overtime periods. That included The Cru’s five shots in overtime, while holding LETU to zero in that span. UMHB had four shots on goal while LETU had just two.
The Cru had two scoring chances in the final three minutes of the second overtime period, with Carter Simpson’s shot to the right in the 108th minute, and Sawyer Young’s shot in the 110th minute just after UMHB recorded the last of its 14 corner kicks on the night. But LETU’s defense withstood the late push, keeping the ball out of the back of the net and forcing a shootout.
Match Notes
- UMHB concludes its 2024 season with a 10-6-3 overall record. It marked The Cru’s third double-digit win season in the last four years.
- In holding LETU to zero goals, The Cru tallied its seventh shutout of the season. That ties the shutout total from 2022, and is one shutout short of tying the 2007 and 2018 teams for the fourth-most shutouts in a season (8).
- The 0-0 result was the first time since Oct. 7, 2023 that UMHB played in a match in which neither side scored.
- This is the third consecutive season in which The Cru battled an opponent to a 0-0 result.
- Thursday’s contest was UMHB’s first postseason match ended on penalties since the spring of 2021, when The Cru played Ozarks to a 2-2 draw in the ASC Tournament. Ozarks won on PKs, 4-3.
UMHB women’s soccer semifinal postponed to Friday
Due to weather conditions in Abilene, Thursday’s semifinal between UMHB women’s soccer and Howard Payne was pushed to Friday at 4 p.m. CT. The match was in the 16th minute when the weather delay occurred, with the score tied at 0-0. It marked the second time weather affected Thursday’s action in Abilene, as the first women’s semifinal, between ETBU and Hardin-Simmons, was pushed back two hours due to lightning earlier in the day. HSU went on to win, 4-0.
