DENTON, TX – A&M-Commerce soccer (10-5-0 overall, 5-3 in conference) swept its season-series with Texas Woman's (9-6-1 overall, 3-4-1 in conference) on Friday with a 1-0 victory, grabbing sole possession of first lace in the LSC in the process.
 
After a relatively slow start to the game, things picked up before half time, as the Lions peppered the goal with shots, outshooting the Pioneers 11-4 after the first 45 minutes. Things remained the same until a breakthrough 10 minutes into half number two. Defender Anitra Wright boomed a shot into traffic, which bounced out to senior midfielder Callie Annett, who put the ball back into the box high, where a waiting Jade Bell headed in her sixth of the season (56') to put the Lions up 1-0.

Keeper Courtnie Northern had a very slow night by her standards with only three saves, but two of them were incredible, highlight-reel stops. Midway through the second half, Northern stepped up to make a spectacular save, forcing her to slide feet first to rob TWU attacker Candice Davies at point-blank range, and keep Texas Woman's off the board. Later, with under two minutes remaining, Northern again played the hero with a diving save, stealing one from co-league leading point-scorer Natalia Diaz to secure the win.

 "She was open, and everything I did was just pure reaction and I got my foot on it," said Northern, who netted her sixth shutout of the season, "On the second, I saw her coming across, and I just had a feeling she would go to that side. So I went that way, and it saved us."
 
Though the game featured the two top scorers of the LSC in A&M-Commerce's Savannah Henderson (11G, 4A) and TWU's Natalia Diaz (10G, 6A), the game wasn't exactly the offensive showdown some predicted. Henderson managed five shots on the evening, two of which were on goal, while Diaz was held to only two shots.

The contest saw very few fouls called on the night (5-1 against the Lions), which led to vocal displeasure from both coaches. This reached a climax when late in the game, Pioneers' head coach Babek Abouzar was assessed a yellow card for verbally abusing the referee.
 
Elsewhere in the LSC, Eastern New Mexico fell 2-1 to Angelo State in San Angelo. With the loss, the Zias give up their claim to the top spot in the conference, surrendering their claim to the conference lead to A&M-Commerce
 
"All I know is we have three hard games left," said head coach Neil Piper, "We're in a great position to do well,  but we have to win those last two to win the conference, and our next one is huge for the NCAA tournament."
 
A&M-Commerce will have two days to recover before heading north of the border for Bethany, Oklahoma to take on the Southern Nazarene University Crimson Storm (8-7). That game is scheduled for Monday, October 27 at 3:00 p.m.