Tiger Athletics: Garcia, Fitzsimmons Spark Come-From-Behind Win vs. HPU

SOCCER (M): MARSHALL, Texas (10/11/12) – Christian Garcia and Peter Fitzsimmons had the time of their life on Thursday night at Cornish Field as they combined for three of the four goals scored in East Texas Baptist University’s win over Howard Payne University, 4-3. In the see-saw American Southwest Conference battle, Howard Payne had the lead for most of the match but ETBU scored two goals in four minutes in the final 10 minutes of the game for the win. This win puts ETBU at 4-7-1 and 3-5-1 in the ASC and keeps their hopes alive for an ASC Tournament berth.

"This was a huge win for us and like a playoff game. Our guys just fought and it was a team effort as it keeps us alive for the post season,” says Fitzsimmons.

Fitzsimmons zipped in the game winner from 20-yards out in the 87th minute to propel ETBU to the victory. Juan Ramirez found Fitzsimmons at the top right of the box as he become open for split second for the shot.

It was Ramirez that tied the match up at three in the 83rd minute when Fitzsimmons found him just five-yard away from the goal. Ramirez then rocketed a shot three-fee off the ground into the left net to tie the match.

Howard Payne took the early 1-0 lead in the 24th minute off of an Eric Young goal but Garcia worked his magic in the first of two goals in the 44th minute just before half. Garcia was in the right place at the right time as he shot in a deflected save from Howard Payne’s Drew Clanahan for the tying goal. The save that was deflected was a hard shot from 15-yards out by Fitzsimmons.

It was not until the 68th minute that Howard Payne retook the lead when Shay Pate broke away up the middle as Jacob Moore found him. The play developed quickly right after ETBU had a shot deflected off the bar and Moore swooped up the ball going to the middle of the field before passing it up to Pate.

Once again, ETBU acted quickly as Garcia netted his second goal of the match in the 70th minute nailing a shot from seven-yards out. Jorge Carreon gave the ball up to Garcia as the game was tied at two. In the 73rd minute, just three minutes later, Howard Payne jumped back in front, 3-2, on a Rodolfo DeHoyos header off of a corner kick from Jacob Moore.

But the momentum only lasted nine minutes before ETBU burst the happy bubble of Howard Payne scoring two goals in four minutes time for the win.

ETBU took 18 shots overall with eight on goal while Howard Payne had 11 shots and 10 on goal. Cody Hopson improved to 3-0-1 in goal with seven saves while HPU’s Clanahan recorded three saves in the loss.

Hardin-Simmons is the next opponent for ETBU on Saturday, October 13th, at 6:00 p.m. in senior day at Cornish Field.



Jelly, Brady Spark ETBU Over HPU

SOOCER (W): MARSHALL, Texas (10/11/12) – Heather Brady’s penalty kick in the 74th minute was the difference in the match for East Texas Baptist University as they held onto a 2-1 American Southwest Conference victory over Howard Payne University. With the win, ETBU keeps their hopes alive for one of the six spots in the ASC Tournament with a 5-3-1 record and 16 overall points.

"I was given the opportunity to take the penalty kick and saw an opening in the right side of the net and just placed it there,” says Brady.

ETBU earned their fifth win in the ASC which gives them 16 points and will put them in the fourth through sixth seed right now. They have also won four of their last five matches in the ASC.

"This was a really big win for us to help get us into the conference tournament and we are doing everything we can to get us there,” says Kia Jelly.

Jelly netted the first goal of the game in the 36th minute to break the scoreless tie as she lifted the ball over Howard Payne’s Adrienne Walker’s head. It was a soft shot from Jelly as things were jammed in the box but she found an opening for the shot from a pass off of Rebecca Davis.

HPU’s Stephanie Boggs tied the match at one in the 56th minute when ETBU was called for a hand ball in the box. Boggs sailed a shot to the right side past ETBU’s Christina Salas to tie the match.

It wasn’t until the 74th minute when ETBU took care of business in the box as a foul happened on the left corner which led to a penalty kick. Brady was chose and she stepped up for the game winning goal, 2-1.

ETBU finished with seven shots as four were on goal but Howard Payne took eight shots with four on goal. Salas recorded three saves for ETBU while Walker had two for Howard Payne.

ETBU will face their biggest match of the year on Saturday, October 13th, at 4:00 p.m. vs. #3 Hardin-Simmons University. HSU has a 150-match unbeaten streak in the ASC they will put on the line in Marshall at Cornish Field.



ETBU Records 7th ASC Sweep of the Year Over MC

VOLLEYBALL: CLINTON, Miss. (10/912) – Picking up their seventh American Southwest Conference sweep in 2012, East Texas Baptist won their 13th match of the year over Mississippi College, 3-0, improving to 10-2 in the ASC East. East Texas Baptist remains in first place in the ASC East with four conference matches left.

Shutting out Mississippi College for the second time this year, ETBU won 25-19, 25-16, and 25-17, at A.E. Wood Coliseum. ETBU hit .358 overall as Kolby Sharp led the team with 13 kills hitting .667 with only one error. Kassie Freitag added nine kills while Adaeze Elonu had six total blocks. Kayla Taylor finished with 39 assists as Hannah Jones provided 12 digs.

With set one tied at five, ETBU scored 11 of the next 15 points for a 16-9 lead as they headed to the 25-19 win. In the run, Sharp had three kills while Elonu had one of her six blocks for the match. Mississippi College cut the lead to four, 18-14, with a 5-2 run but a service error ended the run for Mississippi College.

Mississippi College came out on fire in set two with a commanding 6-0 lead with four straight service aces from Lauryn Hamrick. ETBU shot back with a 12-3 run for a three-point advantage, 12-9. The run started with a Mississippi College service error and an attack error for the first two points. Two kills and two Mississippi College attack errors put ETBU within one, 7-6. The Choctaws then scored pushed their lead to 9-6 on an ETBU error and one kill which then led to six straight points by the Tigers. A Katie Baker kill followed by a Mississippi College attack error once again had ETBU within one, 9-8. Melanie Moyer tied the game on a service ace and Sharp served up three straight kills as ETBU took the 12-9 lead. Two straight errors by ETBU gave Mississippi College two points as they moved within one point, 12-11. That is as close as the Choctaws came the rest of the set as ETBU went on a 12-3 run for 23-14 lead finishing with the 25-16 win.

ETBU took over set three going up 5-1 as Ashley Lindsey and Baker had a combined four kills in the first five points. The lead moved to five, 10-5, but Mississippi College came back to within two, 10-8, but as the rest of the sets went ETBU responded with a run, 7-2, for a 17-10 lead. Mississippi College came within six, 19-13, but the match ended on an ETBU 6-4 run for the win.

ETBU will host LeTourneau on Friday, October 12th, at 6:00 p.m. in another ASC East match in Ornelas Gym.