SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State was put into an early hole and had to play down a player for the final 78 and a half minutes. The Bobcats battled but James Madison came away with a 4-2 win Wednesday night at the Bobcat Soccer Complex in the regular season finale and Senior Night.
 
With the result, TXST ended the regular season with an 8-3-6 record and 5-1-4 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Dukes are now 9-4-5 overall and 5-2-3 in league play.
 
In the first 11 and a half minutes, Brooklyn Escobar made one save. However, her night came to a premature end when she was given a red card for denying a goal scoring opportunity.
 
Despite being shorthanded, it would be Texas State that scored first. Alexis Montgomery sent a long cross to Chloe Jones, who settled the ball and then passed it with the outside of her foot to Mady Soumare. The senior forward tapped the ball onto her right foot and slotted a shot from the top of the 18-yard box just inside the left post for her team leading sixth goal of the season.
 
Dukes scored their first goal of teh match at the beginning of the 30th minute off a corner kick. JMU took the lead in the middle of the 35th minute when Avery White knocked in a shot after getting in front of a clearance attempt by a Bobcat defender.
 
Nearly two minutes later, Soumare was taken down in the box but the ball rolled straight to Helen Alormenu, who's immediate shot attempt found the back of the net that appeared to cut into the deficit. However, the referee blew her whistle for a penalty kick instead for the foul on Soumare and waved off Alormenu's goal. Matsuri Tsutsui stepped up and scored the spot kick to make it a one-goal contest.
 
Audrey Orrock put the visitors back up by two goals midway through the 57th minute.
 
Texas State managed just two shots for the rest of the contest. The first came late in the 80th minute from Chloe Jones and the last was with just under three minutes to play off the right foot of Alormenu.
 
Leading the way with three shots was Alormenu with two of them being on frame. Jones took two shots while an attempt apiece was taken by Soumare and Tsutsui.
 
Mady Rouanet stopped three shots in the final 78:23 minutes of action.
 
Next up for the Bobcats is the Sun Belt Conference Tournament that begins on Monday in Foley, Alabama that sees them enter as the No. 4 seed. It will be a rematch of Wednesday's match as Texas State will take on James Madison with kickoff set for 7 p.m.
 
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