WICHITA FALLS, Texas — A flurry of scoring in the final 11 minutes lifted the Midwestern State University Men's Soccer team past St. Mary's University, 3-1 and ruined the Rattlers' undefeated conference season in the regular season finale.
In the 80th minute, the Mustangs (12-2-3, 7-2-1) scored the first of three straight as Mere Escobar flicked the ball up for Tristian Adams to head in. MSU added goals in the 87th and 88th minutes for the 3-0 lead.
With 1:14 left in the contest, senior
Lewis Nohar (Cumnock, Scotland) scored his fourth goal of the year on a free kick, finding the left side of the net to erase the clean sheet.
"I'm very disappointed with how we finished the game tonight," said Head Coach
Johnny Clifford. "The game was close and back-and-forth for most of the game, but we did not compete well enough toward the end of the game, and that's what cost us. Obviously, since we're already champions, it was not a must-win for us, but it was tough to accept how poorly we defended late in the game. We now need to dust ourselves off, get back to work, and focus on getting better in order to give us the best chance of winning the conference title, securing the double, and our spot in nationals."
Junior goalkeeper
Johnny Thurbin (Lingfield, Surrey, England) made five saves in the game as he faced 23 shots. MSU keeper Daniel Robles made four saves as the Rattlers took 15 total shots on the day.
The Mustangs have scored five of the 12 goals the Rattlers have surrendered this season and they earned the two-seed in the upcoming Lone Star Conference Tournament, which StMU will host. The remaining two seeds, which will join the Rattlers and Mustangs, will be determined in the quarterfinals.
The Rattlers will face the winner of the No. 4 vs. No. 5 quarterfinal on Nov. 15 at 5 p.m. The remainder of the six-team bracket is still to be determined.
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