Nov. 4, 2010

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RUSTON, La. - Playing in its first ever Western Athletic Conference Tournament, the No. 4 seeded Louisiana Tech soccer team lost to No. 5 seed Boise State on Thursday in front of a record crowd of 765 at Lady Techster Soccer Field.

As they have all season long, the Lady Techsters had no problem getting shots off as they outshot the Broncos 16-6 and 5-3 in shots on goal. The difference however, was that BSU took advantage of its three shots on goal and Tech had too many missed opportunities.

"It's a game of missed opportunities," said Tech head coach Kevin Sherry. "We couldn't have created easier opportunities and we just didn't finish. In this game if you don't finish opportunities you get punished, and that's what we did."

Tech grabbed an early 1-0 lead in the 23rd minute on a goal by freshman Taylor Dennis from 10 yards out. She was assisted on the play by freshman Brittany Harbaugh.

After taking the one-goal lead into halftime, Boise State scored its first goal in the 66th minute as Shannon Saxton crossed the ball to Erica Parks who tied the match 1-1.

Of all the opportunities the Lady Techsters had to break the tie, one shot in the 72nd minute was the best. Freshman Emily Brennan received a pass and found herself in a one-on-one situation with Bronco goalkeeper Liz Ruiz. Brennan showed some freshman nerves and shot the ball wide left.

"If that same shot would have been taken by Kiva (Gresham), I'd bet my mortgage that it would have gone in," Sherry said. "The freshmen felt the pressure of the game. But we had more than that, more than enough opportunities to score."

Just four minutes later, BSU (8-9-3) had the same chance as Tech had. The Broncos' Erica Parks went one-on-one with Tech goalkeeper Caitlin Updyke and struck the ball wide left.

The match went into overtime tied 1-1. Tech outshot Boise State 3-0 in the extra period, but none of them found the back of the net.

In the second overtime, the only shot taken was scored by the Park. She was nearly offsides, but stayed onside to score the same way as her first goal and was assisted by Saxton in the 102nd minute of play.

"Right now they are all really upset," Sherry said. "But we did what we expected and we are ahead of the curve. We can win this tournament next year."

Despite the heartbreaking loss, the season is still deemed a success for Tech as it accomplished its goal of qualifying for the WAC Tournament for the first time in school history.

"I'm proud of the season," said Tech senior Kiva Gresham, "it's the best we've ever done and we can't do anything about it but walk off the field with our head held high. This program started from the very bottom. It's been a huge roller coaster ride to the top and I can't wait to see what this program can do in the future."

The Lady Techsters finished the season with a school record 15-6 and 5-3 in the WAC.