ENMU women advance in LSC soccer playoffs

WICHITA FALLS, Texas — Eastern New Mexico University had been struggling to find offense throughout the entire women’s soccer season, with 18 goals in 18 games and never more than three in a contest.

Well, the Greyhounds found the offense, and at just the right time. Kenya Brooke scored twice, and ENMU led nearly wire-to-wire in a 4-0 victory over Midwestern State to open the Lone Star Conference playoffs Tuesday night.

Erin McArmey and Caitlyn Schmidt also scored second-half goals for Eastern New Mexico (5-8-6), which scored on all four of its shots on goal and got seven saves from Alejandra Camarillo on the night in grabbing its first women’s soccer tournament win in program history.

Eastern led nearly the entire way, with Brooke notching her first goal unassisted just 1:56 into the contest. She scored again on a Samantha Fabela feed to make it 3-0 in the 74th minute, and Ariel Lopez had a pair of assists, including a through ball that led to Schmidt’s nail-in-the-coffin goal.

The four goals marked the most the Mustangs had given up since a 2006 game against Central Oklahoma.

The Greyhounds’ reward? They go right back on the road for a 6:30 p.m. semifinal against Angelo State, the top seed and host for the final two rounds.

It was the second-straight win over the Mustangs (11-7-1), who should still have no problem making the field of 48 teams for the national championship. Midwestern State was ranked 16th when the Greyhounds topped them 2-1 in their regular-season finale on Friday.

In Wednesday’s other semifinal, Khaline Jacob scored 8:29 into overtime, and West Texas A&M survived 3-2 over sixth-seeded Texas Woman’s.

The Pioneers had just three shots on goal, but forced the sudden-death session when Libby Murphy scored with just 1:48 remaining.

Jacob and Marlene van Mourik each had a goal and an assist for West Texas A&M, which will face second-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce in Friday’s other semifinal.

The title game is set for noon Sunday.