COMMERCE, TEXAS – The Lions soccer team will travel over 600 miles to Pensacola, Florida to face off against the 1–0 Columbus State Cougars.
 
After the first week of play, the Cougars earned a No. 20 national ranking and a No. 3 ranking Southeast region ranking from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA), following their 4-2 victory over Mount Olive. The Cougars did a very good job at spreading the offense around, with six different players scoring points on Columbus State's four goals. Columbus State ought to have played two games by now, but their contest with the University of West Florida was canceled due to lightning.
 
Conversely, A&M-Commerce is ranked No. 10 in the South Central region following back-to-back wins over UC Colorado Springs and St. Mary's. Their goal-scoring has come exclusively from forwards Savannah Henderson and Jade Bell, though four other Lions have gotten involved on the offense by providing assists.
 
Columbus State comes off a 2013 season where they went 15-6-1 overall and finished second in the Peach Belt Conference with a 9-2 conference-record. They qualified for the NCAA tournament and made it to the Southeast Regional before being eliminated by Wingate on penalty kicks.
 
The game is set to begin Friday, September 12 at 2:30 p.m. CST. After that, the Lions will stick around to play the University of West Florida Argonauts on Sunday, September 14 at 12:30 p.m. CST.