The Eastern New Mexico women’s soccer team pulled off the biggest upset in program history on Julia Tucker’s goal in overtime as the Hounds defeated 19th-ranked and top-seeded West Texas A&M 1-0 in the Lone Star Conference Semifinal match Friday night.
Eastern (9-8-2) with the victory made history as the Hounds are advancing to their first ever LSC Championship match.
West Texas A&M (15-3-1) had the momentum early, taking the first eight shots of the match. The best chance for the Lady Buffs came in the 16th minute when WTAMU’s Jessica Diaz fired a 35-yard shot that bounced off the crossbar and over the net.
Freshman goalkeeper Taylor Jackson made some big saves following the shot, including stops in the 28th and 29th minutes to keep the Lady Buffs off the board.
Jaci Sievers had the best opportunity to put the Hounds on the board in the first half, but her shot was saved and both teams went into the half locked up at 0-0.
Eastern was able to survive WTAMU’s early offensive onslaught, as the Lady Buffs outshot the Hounds by a 10-4 margin and a 5-1 edge in shots on-goal.
However, the Greyhounds were able to swing the momentum in their favor late in the second half. In the 79th minute, Hayden Zuniga put a header on-goal off a Kaitlyn Caro corner kick, but it was saved by WTAMU keeper Courtney Dippel.
Two minutes later, Victoria Nuñez had a shot at the goal from the right side, but her shot was stopped by the Lady Buffs keeper as well.
In the 84th minute, the Greyhounds survived a scare when WTAMU’s Hannah Kelley-Lusk fired a shot from the left side that deflected off the right post and off the crossbar before bouncing away from the goal and cleared by the defense, keeping the match deadlocked.
In the 87th minute, All-LSC junior midfielder Samantha Fabela had one last shot to give Eastern the lead from 20 yards out from the left side, but her shot was saved, sending the match into overtime.
The Hounds were outshot by a 14-5 margin in the second half, but Eastern put more of their shots on-goal by a 3-2 margin.
Eastern went into the overtime period with all of the momentum and took advantage of its first opportunity. Coming off a breakaway in the 93rd minute, freshman forward Anahi Hernandez found Tucker in the goal box on a cross from the right side and she was able to fire a shot past the diving Dippel toward the left side of the goal, giving the Hounds the 1-0 victory.
The goal was Tucker’s second of the season while Hernandez notched her third assist of the season, tying her for the team lead.
Despite WTAMU outshooting the Hounds by a 24-10 edge, Eastern was more efficient with their shots as each team placed five on-goal.
Caro and Nuñez led the Hounds with two shots apiece, with Nuñez placing one on-goal.
Jackson in-goal for the Hounds continued to build upon her program-record, shutting out her seventh opponent of the season while coming away with five saves.
With the win, fifth-seeded Eastern New Mexico will face No. 2 seed Angelo State on Sunday, Nov. 4 at noon for the Lone Star Conference Championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament.