West Texas FC loses heartbreaking match to Columbus United FC

West Texas FC battled to the end against Columbus United FC in the South Region Final at Astound Broadband Stadium on Saturday night.

West Texas FC came back from a 3-0 deficit to force extra time, but a Tommy Munoz header in the 22^nd A minute of extra time helped Columbus United FC to a 4-3 away victory.

Columbus (9-3-3) advances to the National Premier League Soccer semifinals against an opponent to be determined on July 27.

West Texas FC finishes its second season and first under head coach David Ormiston at 10-3-1, snapping an eight-game winning streak. The team also suffered its first home loss of the season.

Unlike the previous three playoff games, West Texas FC had to fight back from a big deficit, trailing 2-0 at halftime and 3-0 in the second half.

Columbus opened the scoring with a header from Josiah Fontenot in the 13^e minute.

It became 2-0 when Rafael Kawata shot a ball into the right corner of the goal in the 19th minute.^e minute.

The momentum for Columbus continued in the second half when Xavier Csato made it 3-0 with a goal in the 50^e minute.

West Texas FC struggled to attack and when they did, they were close.

West Texas FC finally broke through in the 62^nd minute when Antoine Marques found the net to make it 3-1. It was Marques’ sixth goal in the play-offs.

Jasper Van Der Molen then made a game of it when he scored his first goal of the season in the 74th minute.^e minute to reduce the score to 3-2.

West Texas FC suffered further setbacks when they were reduced to one man for the final minutes of regulation time after Shuntaro Endo was shown a red card.

Despite this, Columbus was fined for a foul inside the penalty area in injury time and Van Der Molen converted a penalty, forcing extra time and giving West Texas FC hope.

Even after Columbus scored the decisive goal, West Texas FC came within a whisker of tying the game when a ball from Liam Corr dribbled towards the open right corner of the goal. But just before the ball went in, Columbus defender Damean Dominguez was able to run in and clear the ball out of bounds, securing the victory.