FORT WORTH, Texas – With a slight drizzle throughout most of the afternoon, the Texas Wesleyan Lady Ram soccer team took the field against the Lady Eagles of the University of the Ozarks.

Though he pace of the game was slowed by the weather conditions, Wesleyan found plenty of offense early. Sophomore Tyler Mabry opened the scoring in the tenth minute with her fourth goal of the season. At the edge of the six-yard box on the keeper’s right, an attempted shot by Jessica Carrion was misplayed by the Lady Eagle defense and landed on Mabry’s foot. She floated a high shot just inside the near post to make it 1-0 in Wesleyan’s favor.

The Lady Rams struck again just before the end of the first half, as Carrion, with her back to the goal, took a pass from Jessica Elder. Stopping and turning in one motion, Carrion ripped a right-footer from 15 yards high to the far corner of the goal. Lady Eagle goalkeeper Jessica Bush had barely taken a step before Carrion’s conference-leading 19th goal of the season was in the net.

The second half had just started when Jessica Elder padded Wesleyan’s lead. Three minutes in, after taking a pass from Jessica Killen, she floated another high ball to the far post. Bush jumped for the seemingly easy save, but the ball was perfectly placed, scraping the underside of the crossbar as it fell in for a 3-0 Wesleyan lead. It would be Elder’s last goal of the season.

In the 53rd minute, Elder took possession of the ball in Wesleyan territory and turned to push the attack. Lisa Hilton, a forward for the Lady Eagles, attempted a tackle, but caught only leg, causing Elder to roll up on her right ankle. An audible “pop” silenced the cheering Wesleyan fans, as Elder lay on the ground in obvious pain. Play was halted as Wesleyan trainers, head coach Steve Jones, and Elder’s father, who was watching the game, attended to the player.

“It’s her ankle,” said Texas Wesleyan head trainer Kyle Morgan would later say. “We believe she broke both the tibia and fibula bones at the base of her leg.”

A MedStar team arrived in an ambulance ten minutes after the injury, and was able to safely load Elder into the vehicle. She was taken to the emergency room at a nearby hospital.

Play resumed after 45-minutes with the referee doling out a yellow card to Hilton for the foul. The Lady Eagles’ coach then immediately replaced Hilton with another player.

The stoppage apparently worked in the Lady Eagles’ favor, as they scored five minutes later on nice shot from Jamie Craig. They also scored in the final minutes, but didn’t threaten after that. Wesleyan held on for the 3-2 victory.

Wesleyan improves to 8-7 overall, and remains 1-3 in conference. The final game of the regular season is a conference match at Texas A&M-International on Sunday. The playoffs begin on Tuesday, March 5th, and the seeding has already been determined. Wesleyan will travel to Muskogee, Oklahoma to face the Lady Warriors of Bacone College.

Game notes
Senior Sara Castro, playing in her final home game at Wesleyan, was honored at halftime for becoming the first women’s soccer player to play four seasons at Wesleyan. The school began competing in the sport in 1998, but did not field a team last season.