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East Central rallies past Zias

ADA, Okla. — Sophomore forward Whitney Watts scored her 12th and 13th goals of the season in the second half Friday as East Central rallied for a 3-2 Lone Star Conference women’s soccer victory over Eastern New Mexico University.

Trailing 2-1 at halftime, Watts brought the Lady Tigers (6-7-2, 3-6-0 LSC) from behind, scoring on cross passes from Candace Baird less than two minutes into the second half and Jordan Wozniak in the 70th minute.

The loss means the Zias (8-10, 3-6) will not be able to post the second plus.-500 record in the program’s seven-year history. ENMU closes the season on Sunday with an 11 a.m. (MST) conference match at Northeastern State.

East Central got on the board only 15 seconds into the match when Ashleigh Peete scored her first goal of the season. That was it for the Lady Tigers until Watts took over.

ENMU pulled even with 9:07 gone when sophomore midfielder Jordan Sjue scored her second goal of the season — and second in the last three games — on a shot from about 25 yards out. The Zias moved in front when freshman forwar Brooke Serrano took a cross pass from sophomore midfielder Danielle Thurman and scored from the right wing about midway through the half.

The Zias held an 18-8 advantage in total shots, including 10-5 in shots on goal. ECU sophomore Natalie Wilson made seven saves in goal.

Earlier on Friday, ENMU announced that senior forward Samantha Lawrence and senior defender Michelle Sumner were named to the ESPN The Magazine second-team Academic All-District 6 squad. It is the fifth consecutive year the Zias have had at least one player selected to the squad.