SEGUIN â€" The Texas Lutheran men's soccer team battled tough and went into halftime tied with top-seeded Trinity, but three second-half goals led to a 3-0 loss for the Bulldogs in the semifinals of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Championship on Saturday.
 
The loss moved the Bulldogs' final record to 9-9-2 on the year. They finished 6-7-1 in SCAC regular-season play.
 
Coming into the semifinals, both teams expected a hard-fought match, with the Bulldogs looking to avenge a pair of one-goal losses in the regular season to the No. 2-ranked Tigers. The first half, filled with physical play and plenty of chances for both teams, lived up to that billing. The two teams combined for 14 shots in the first half, with Texas Lutheran notching five.
 
The Bulldogs' best chance to put their noses ahead came just less than 30 minutes into first-half action. A corner kick from Colin Nunley (Keller, Texas) bounced off a couple players before landing at the feet of Andrew Welsch (Amarillo, Texas). The senior ripped a shot so hard it would have beaten the keeper in virtually every spot on goal. Unfortunately, Welsch's blast was straight at the keeper, who just managed to get his hands up to punch it away. The rebound landed straight at Welsch again, but this time the midfielder's shot sailed right of target.
 
Welsch's shot was one of two on target in the first half for TLU. Isaac Lopez (Round Rock, Texas) also found the target with a shot, but it was also knocked away by Trinity keeper Matt Cardone.
 
Texas Lutheran goalkeeper Jonathan Michael (Coppell, Texas) made four saves in the first half to keep the scored knotted at 0-0. The junior finished with six total saves.
 
The scoreless deadlock was finally broken three minutes into the second half, when Simon Uribe knocked a header into the lower left corner in the 49^th minute. The goal came off a Tom Carwile free kick.
 
The Bulldogs would continue to fight, keeping it a one-score game until the 68th minute when they gave up a foul in the penalty area. Trinity's Johnny Lawson took the penalty kick and knocked it home to put the Bulldogs down 2-0.
 
The final goal came in the 73rd minute. Derrick Horvath scored an unassisted goal to put the game out of reach.
 
Texas Lutheran was out-shot 20-9 for the game, with the Bulldogs finishing with three shots on goal compared to nine for the Tigers. Welsch led the team with four shots.