PORTALES, N.M. - Lions Soccer (12-5 overall, 6-3 in conference) sits on the brink of winning its first LSC season title in 11 years, and a win or draw this Sunday against the Eastern New Mexico Zias (9-6 overall, 6-3 in conference) would make that dream a reality.
 
Only twice in Lions history (1999, 2003) has A&M-Commerce managed to win the regular season title. Back in '03, the Lions were led by the likes of the all-time school leader in career goals and career points Emily Brueggemann, the all-time school leader in assists Erin de Wolfe, and the all-time school leader in shots per game Tiffany Adams. Now, Savannah Henderson, Jade Bell, and the rest of the Lions will look to join that prestigious company as LSC champions by taking care of business on Sunday.
 
The game in Portales will present fans with an interesting matchup of a proverbial unstoppable force vs. an immovable object. The Zias sport the second best home record in the conference, having only lost once at ENMU Soccer Field with a 6-1 home-record. The Lions meanwhile sport the best road record in the conference at 7-1, their sole road loss coming in double overtime against Angelo State. Entering the game, both teams are red-hot, with ENMU having won four of its last five, and the Lions winning six of their last seven, as well as their last four in a row.
 
Offensively, the Zias have relied upon senior midfielder Alyssa Prince (6G, 1A) and senior defender Victoria Perez (6G) for their goal-scoring, the latter of whom scored the lone goal against the Lions in their previous matchup in Commerce, which the Lions won 3-1. Additionally, ENMU has implemented junior defender Melissa Moxley (2G, 5A) as a setup specialist. They'll likely draw the task of attempting to crack Lions sophomore keeper Callie Ballard, who's drawn the last two starts in a row for the Lions, winning both games. On her career, which spans back to 2013, Ballard has amassed an 11-6-2 record with 9 shutouts while making 84 saves for .848 save percentage.
 
On the other side of the field, the Lions will continue to run their offense through star forwards Henderson (12G, 6A) and Bell (8G, 7A), who between the two of them, hold the conference lead in almost every offensive statistical category (goals, assists, points and shots). In addition to them, six other Lions have knocked in game-winners on the season, most recently senior midfielder Cadie Annett and junior defender Taylor Rhodes, who earned the clinchers against Southern Nazarene and West Texas A&M respectively. The Lions offense will draw the assignment of trying to solve senior keeper Fabienne Wilson. Wilson won the starting job for the Zias in late September, and since then has put together a 6-3 record with 4 shutouts. However, both her GAA (1.184) and save percentage (.789) are second-lowest in the conference, indicating some potential vulnerability on the defensive end.
 
Though only two conference games remain to be played on Sunday (A&M-Commerce @ ENMU and TWU @ WT), a variety of scenarios remain. Starting with the bottom of the bracket, Texas Woman's will get in with a win or draw against West Texas. If they lose, they'll be out of the tournament, and Midwestern State would take their place as the 4thh seed. Whoever it winds up being will play the LSC champions in a road game next weekend. As for the Lions and Zias, the Lions would win the conference by either beating or tying the Zias, which would mean they'd kick off the tournament by hosting either TWU or MSU. However, if the Zias win, the tournament would take place in Portales, and the Lions would kick off the tournament with a neutral site game against Angelo State.
 
The match is set to get underway on Sunday, November 2, at 12 p.m. MST (1 p.m. CST). After that, while we won't know the Lions schedule for next weekend until the conclusion of this game, soccer fans are welcome to come to Lion Soccer Field on Monday, November 3 at 3 p.m. To watch a neutral site game between the St. Mary's Rattlers (8-7) and the Oklahoma Baptist Bison (11-5-1) as they each wrap up their season.