Oct. 18, 2006

CANYON, Texas - This weekend will be the final home action of the season for both West Texas A&M soccer programs. The Buffaloes will be in action today in Portales, N.M., as they are hosted by Eastern New Mexico in Southwest Soccer Conference play, before coming home to play Incarnate Word Sunday. The Lady Buffs will hit the field Friday, when they host Texas A&M Commerce in a pivotal Lone Star Conference battle, and again Sunday, when Texas Woman's comes to town for another conference match.

The WTAMU men's soccer team is coming off a split of its SSC matches against Missouri Southern and Northeastern State. On Friday the Buffaloes defeated Missouri Southern 4-0, with a pair of goals by freshmen Daniel Bulley (Exeter, England) and Jacob Jensen (Horseus, Denmark). In Sunday's action, WTAMU fell to NSU 2-1, with the Buffaloes lone goal being scored by junior Chris Oladipo (Waco, Texas) in the 76th minute.

Earlier this season, WTAMU and ENMU met at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium, and the Buffs pulled out the overtime win 3-2. WTAMU was down 2-0 late in the second half, and scored its first goal in the 68th minute off the foot of Bulley. However, with 12 seconds remaining in regulation the Buffs scored the tying goal, and in the 92nd minute WTAMU won the match; both goals were scored by sophomore Itamar Keinan (Kiryat Haim, Israel).

Against Incarnate Word in early September, the Buffs found themselves down 2-0, but fought back and equalized the match with less than two minutes remaining on Bulley's second goal of the contest. Overtime saw no more scoring and the contest ended in a draw.

On the women's side of action, WTAMU also split with its weekend opponents, falling to No.21 Central Oklahoma Friday, 1-0 in overtime, before rolling over Southwestern Oklahoma 7-0 on Sunday. Sophomore classmates Elisabeth Markussen (Borkup, Denmark) and Samantha Calcote (Amarillo, Texas) each scored a hat trick against SWOSU; it was is the first time since 1998 that two Lady Buff soccer athletes each scored three goals in a match. Fellow sophomore Sarah Pipkin (San Angelo, Texas) also played well in both matches; posting 15 saves in 16 chances with the only goal she allowed coming a minute and 13 seconds into overtime on Friday.

This Friday, the Lady Buffs will host Texas A&M Commerce; both squads are competing for the second spot in LSC Tournament. The Lady Buffs are 4-2-1 in conference play, which puts them in a four way tie for second along with the Lions.

Sunday's contest with Texas Woman's will be Senior Day for Lindsay Sheffield (Amarillo, Texas), Sarit Shenar (Rehovot, Israel) and Whitney McClain (Wichita Falls, Texas). The three seniors have never lost to Texas Woman's, posting a 3-0-1 record versus the Pioneers. The draw was in 2003, when WTAMU and TWU ended the match 1-1.

The women's game with Commerce will kickoff at 3 p.m. on Friday, and Sunday's doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m., with the men following at 3 p.m. The next action for both squads will be at their respective conference tournaments, starting Thursday, Oct. 26.