LONE STAR CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS: Lindsay McHorse, freshman forward, helps hold up the Lady Buffs’ trophy. She was honored with the title of “Most Valuable Player.” Photo by Thomas Kotara
Jason Poland
Sports Editor
The WTAMU Lady Buffs soccer team can once again be called champions.
For the second consecutive season the Lady Buffs have won the Lone Star Conference championship tournament.
In a dominant fashion the Lady Buffs put away its competition on Friday defeating Central Oklahoma 5-1.
The win vaulted the Lady Buffs into the championship game against TAMU-Commerce
It highlighted a chance for redemption against the team that defeated the Lady Buffs and gave WT its only blemish at home less then a month earlier.
On Sunday WT defeated TAMU-Commerce 1-0 in overtime at the “Pitch” in front of 114 fans.
The game was tied, yet the feel of the game was domination by the Lady Buffs.
“I felt offensively we dominated,” Head Coach Butch Lauffer said. “We had 16 shots to their six.”
In the first half of action the Lady Buffs fired eight shots at the net as compared to four from the Lions.
The second half of play is even more in favor of Coach Lauffer’s statement.
WT had six shots while the Lions could only muster one shot at WT’s goal.
The problem with such a big margin in shot difference was the Lady Buffs were still tied with the Lions at 0-0.
“It was just a matter of concentrating and getting the ball in the net,” freshman forward Lindsay McHorse said.
“We are the better team at passing the ball. Everyone stayed wide and in their position. We were able to move the ball around and finally get a goal.”
WT was able to use its superior ball movement throughout the game and finally made it pay off as WT scored the games only goal in the first overtime period.
Senior Elisabeth Markussen placed a ball perfectly into the Lions box for McHorse, who ripped the ball past the diving goalie for TAMU-Commerce.
The win clinched the LSC tournament for the second consecutive year for the Lady Buffs.
The difference was last year was on the road and this year’s win was at home.
“It was great to win in front of our fans,” Markussen said.
Going into the game TAMU-Commerce was ranked higher then the Lady Buffs in the region.
“We showed them that we are the better team, even though they were ranked higher than us,” senior Danea Fontana said.
The win propelled the Lady Buffs into the NCAA South Central Regional Tournament.
WT will host the tournament and will resume play at 1 p.m. on Friday against Washburn.
The winner of this match will play Truman at 1 p.m. on Sunday.