Final Stats | Notes

LA Tech vs. Lamar box

LA Tech season stats

BEAUMONT, Texas ÃÆ'¢Ã¢'¬" The last time Louisiana Tech was forced to play a man down due to a red card, it was four years ago and the Lady Techsters were still able to pull off the victory.

The same scenario happened on Sunday night as LA Tech was forced to play with 10 on the field and still came away with a dramatic 2-1 road win over Lamar at the LU Soccer Complex to open the 2016 season.

The match was knotted up at one goal apiece before Monica Gebler was issued a red card just 35 minutes into the game.

Forced to play defensive, the Techsters found an offensive opportunity almost 15 minutes into the second half when freshman Jenna Dages came up with the game winner on her first career goal.

"The ladies dug deep tonight and showed a lot of character," head coach Kevin Sherry said. "The tough travel and giving up an early goal was bad enough, but to lose a player after 35 minutes, the situation looked dire. But the team pulled together, gave every ounce of effort they could give and went for it.

"We believed we could still win and kept attacking. We did not sit back and play defensive. We went for the win with only 10 players and it paid off. It was a real team effort."

LA Tech (1-0) did not get off to the start that they wanted, allowing Lamar (0-2) a corner kick in the fourth minute which was a line drive that snuck through the defense and driven in by M.J. Eckart to give the Cardinals the early advantage.

However, in the 20th minute senior Annabel Prior was in the right place at the right time, receiving the ball at the top of the 18 and striking a bullet that went over the keeper for the equalizer. It was career goal No. 4 for the midfielder.

The Lady Techsters were pressing high and holding possession for much of the time after that until a rare red card came (only had one total in the last 10 years combined) in the 35th minute.

LA Tech made it to halftime all square and was on its heels early in the second half to try to hang on to at least a tie. That was until they had a golden scoring opportunity arise that they took advantage of as a beautiful touch pass from Kathryn Sloan went to Dages who delivered a rocket from 15 yards out past the keeper. It marked Sloan's 12th career assist of her stellar career, tying her for fifth all-time.

The depth of the team shined the rest of the way despite being a player down. Sherry rotated midfielders and strikers constantly and stuck with a veteran back line that came up with timely blocks on shot attempts by the visitors.

Then there was the very experienced play of goalkeeper Kylee Seto who had three late saves to help preserve the victory. Seto totaled five saves for her 24th career win in net.

LA Tech finished the match with a 19-12 shot advantage, led by forwards Dages and Sloan who had three apiece.

The team will now head back to Ruston and start a four-game home stretch beginning on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. versus in-state foe McNeese State.

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