Hounds score late to edge OC

For all the world, it looked like Eastern New Mexico University and Oklahoma Christian were headed to a scoreless draw in Wednesday’s Lone Star Conference men’s soccer tilt at Steve Loy Family Foundation Stadium.

But the Greyhounds upped their pressure as the match headed into the final stretch, and sophomore forward Robin Vandewalle was able to break through from point-blank range with just under eight minutes left for a 1-0 victory over the Eagles.

ENMU (4-3-4, 2-1-1 LSC) is currently tied for fourth place in the 11-team circuit with OC (5-4-3, 2-2-1), each with seven points (three for win, one for a tie). While the Hounds have a match in hand plus a potential tiebreaker on the Eagles, third-year Greyhounds coach Brandon Misuraca said it would be a mistake to put too much emphasis on the result.

“In the Lone Star Conference, every match is a fight,” he said. “Anybody can beat anyone. It’s a big win, but the standings right now will probably change a lot.”

The top six teams earn a trip to the LSC tournament, scheduled for Nov. 9-17 at the home of the regular-season champion.

“It was a good game,” said first-year OC coach Neil Hilton, a native of Liverpool, England. “We just weren’t good enough in the final third (of the match).”

The goal came about with freshman defender Rodrigo Velasco dribbled away from a couple of OC defenders in midfield and set a long pass to junior defender Pablo Nodar on the right wing. Nodar squared the ball across goal, and Vandewalle was able to tap it in past Eagles keeper Pepi Hinterschuster for his second tally of the season.

“We battled all night,” Hilton said. “We didn’t manage (ENMU’s pressure) well at the end.”

There were only three shots on goal in the match, two for ENMU and one for OC, with much of the contest played in the middle of the field. Both sides had three corner kicks.

The Hounds, with six matches left in conference play and the regular campaign, returned to action on Saturday at Texas-Tyler. They host Dallas Baptist in a 6 p.m. start on Wednesday.

ENMU women fall at TWU – Texas Woman’s netted a pair of goals in the final 21-plus minutes on Wednesday night for a 2-0 Lone Star Conference women’s soccer victory over ENMU at Denton, Texas. It was the fifth consecutive loss for the Greyhounds (2-8-1, 1-6 LSC), during which time they’ve been outscored 17-1.

After a quiet first half, the Pioneers (6-2-3, 2-1-3) turned up the pressure in the final 45 minutes. They broke through with 21:05 remaining when sophomore forward Giselle Gutierrez found the back of the net off a cross from the right wing by freshman forward Celeste Beltran.

That tally ended a stretch of 315 minutes, 40 seconds between scores for the Pioneers, who were coming off back-to-back scoreless deadlocks. TWU, which has four shutouts in a row (2-0-2), added an insurance goal from freshman forward Cadence Andersen, her first as a collegian, with just over eight minutes remaining.

For the match, the Pioneers held a 7-4 advantage over the Hounds in shots on goal and a 7-0 margin in corner kicks. Freshman goalkeeper Rosie Willmott Joyce registered five saves for ENMU while TWU senior Amanda Farris had four.

ENMU, which has been limited to four goals this season, returns to action today with a noon conference match against Angelo State at Steve Loy Family Foundation Stadium.