A late goal by the Lions and a chance to tie fell short as the Eastern New Mexico women’s soccer team dropped a hard-fought 1-0 decision at Texas A&M-Commerce Sunday afternoon.

In the first half, the Hounds (6-7-2, 4-5-1 Lone Star Conference) out-shot the Lions (8-6, 5-5 LSC) by a 7-5 margin, but neither team could muster more than one shot on-goal.
Eastern’s best opportunity came in the 44th minute, but junior midfielder Julia Tucker’s shot was saved and the two teams went into the halftime break with a scoreless tie.

The second half featured a lot more offense as Eastern managed to put a shot on-goal in just the fourth minute of the second half, but sophomore midfielder Victoria Nuñez’s shot at the 48:25 mark was saved.

The Hounds got a fortuitous bounce in the 53rd minute when TAMUC’s Lindsey McDonald hit the crossbar on her shot and the match remained scoreless. However, the Hounds had a bounce fall out of their favor as freshman forward Anahi Hernandez had a shot hit the post at the 55:55 mark, keeping the match at a scoreless draw.

The Lions broke through with the only score of the game in the 77th minute on a goal by Jocelyn McDonough to give Commerce the 1-nil advantage.

However, Eastern did have opportunities to score an equalizer. In the 80th minute, Nuñez’s shot was saved, keeping the lead in favor of the Lions.

In the waning seconds of the match, the Hounds had one last chance. With four seconds remaining, the Lions were called for a foul, giving junior mid Samantha Fabela one last chance to score an equalizer. However, her free kick shot was saved and the Lions handed the Hounds a bitter defeat.

Despite taking the loss, the Hounds out-shot the Lions 18-14, while both teams managed just four shots on-goal.

Fabela and Nuñez led the offensive efforts with four shots apiece, with Nuñez placing two on-goal. Freshman goalkeeper Taylor Jackson took the loss in-goal for the Hounds, conceding just one goal and making three saves.

The Greyhounds will return home this week for their final matches of the regular season. The Hounds will face UT-Permian Basin at noon on Friday before taking on Angelo State next Sunday at 1 p.m.