Patriots advance to ASC final
Published 2:26 am Saturday, November 9, 2013
ABILENE — The No. 2 seed UT Tyler men’s soccer team defeated nationally ranked UT Dallas in a shootout on Friday to advance to the 2013 American Southwest Conference Tournament championship.
Parker Hood notched the win with his penalty kick conversion.
After the teams finished 110 minutes of play knotted at 1-1, the teams advanced to the penalty kick shootout in the wet weather.
UT Tyler converted all five kicks againt UT Dallas’ Steven Nicknish.
After UTD’s preseason ASC Player of the Year and leading scorer Michael Darrow missed his only opportunity, Hood converted his kick to send the Patriots to their fourth ASC Championship game in six seasons.
UT Tyler’s Alonso Rivera scored the first goal of the match in the 52nd minute, taking an Elijah Shipman pass and putting it past Nicknish for the 1-0 lead.
UT Dallas would not go away, scoring with just under eight minutes to play on a J.T. Hawkins goal, sending the game into the extra time.
The Patriots will now take on host Hardin-Simmons at 1 p.m. Sunday in the title game. The winner advances to the NCAA Division III Tournament.
UT Tyler, which lost to H-S 1-0 earlier this season, defeated the Cowboys 3-0 in the 2011 ASC final.
Hardin-Simmons advanced to the championship game with a 3-2 overtime win over Louisiana College earlier on Friday.