TXST SOCCER
The Bobcats’ quest of winning the Sun Belt Regular Season championship ended in controversial fashion as Texas State fell to the James Madison Dukes 4-2.
The controversy happened in the 11th minute when goalkeeper Brooklyn Esocbar was issued a red card for denying a goal-scoring opportunity, leading to the Bobcats playing with 10 players for the rest of the game.
“Some refereeing decisions [didn’t] go our way,” Head Coach Steve Holeman said. “JMU’s a very good team and to play them with 10 players is a very difficult task. I thought we played very well in our first 15 minutes of the game and then for us to go down a player and then score was really good. [James Madison] is so good in possession. They’re so good at keeping the ball. They just eventually just kind of wore us down.”
Despite playing with a player down, the Bobcats struck first against the Dukes. Senior Mady Soumare scored in the 17th minute off the assist from Chloe Jones and Alexis Montgomery to put Texas State up 1-0.
The lead didn’t last long for the Bobcats as Lena Dahms scored for the Dukes in the 29th minute, tying the game at 1-1.
James Madison later took their first lead of the game in the 34th minute as Avery White scored to put the Dukes up 2-1.
The Dukes struck again in the second half, scoring on a goal from Aleigha Arndt in the 46th minute to extend the lead 3-1.
But the Bobcats were not done yet. Despite sophomore Helen Alormenu scoring the goal in the 47th minute, the score was taken away from Texas State as the officials called for a penalty inside the box which awarded the Bobcats a penalty kick.
Freshman Matsuri Tsutsui responded by scoring her second goal of the season on the ensuing penalty kick, making it a one-score game at 3-2.
The Dukes put the game away in the 56th minute as Audrey Orrock scored the decisive goal to make the final score 4-2.
Texas State finishes the regular season with an 8-3-6 overall record and a 5-1-4 conference record, taking fourth place overall in the conference standings and qualifying for the conference tournament.
The Bobcats will open up the conference tournament with James Madison once again which is a rematch of the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship game. Kick-off is set for 7 p.m. Monday at the Foley Sports Complex in Alabama.
