EDINBURG - Goalie Brian Armstrong of Arkansas-Little Rock stopped three straight penalty kicks by Texas-Pan American here Thursday to win a shootoff after the teams battled to a 3-3 tie to open the Sun Belt Conference Soccer  Championship.

UALR's Trojans took the penalty-shot tiebreaker, 3-1. The game counts officially as a tie, but the shootoff sent UALR into the semifinals at 3 p.m. Friday against North Texas.

Western Kentucky blanked Jacksonville, 3-0, in Friday's other opener when WKU goalie Lee Hunt stopped all 10 JU shots at goal. 

That means the unlucky Broncs must face Jacksonville for fifth place in the tournament  at 10 a.m. Friday. Then top-seeded South Alabama faces Western Kentucky in one semifinal at 12:30 p.m.

Mario Ribera played brilliantly for UTPA in defeat. He scored in the 50th and 62nd minutes to rally the Broncs to a 2-1 lead in the second half. Juan Carlos Vasquez fought off a defender for a point-blank goal on a superb pass from Ribera to give the Broncs a 3-2 lead in the 76th minute.

Mark Maze's 25-yard blast tied it for UALR in the 83rd minute and the score stayed 3-3 through two overtimes. That caused the shootoff that kept the Broncs out of the semifinals.

David Haudrich and Boyna Bear got UALR's other goals.

WKU took a 2-0 halftime lead over JU's Dolphins and coasted. Time McMullen scored at 4:40, Rew Woodruff at 25:45 and Ryan Rodosky at 48 minutes for the Hilltoppers.