NATCHITOCHES, La. – Playing in the Southland Conference Tournament for the first time, the No. 3 seeded Texas A&M University-Commerce soccer team collected a 2-1 win over the No. 6 seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders on Wednesday afternoon at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex to advance to the SLC Tournament semifinal round.
The Lions with the win improve to 8-8-2 on the season and face No. 2 seeded and hosts, Northwestern State, with a trip to the SLC title match on the line on Friday evening at 7 p.m. Top seeded Lamar and No. 4 seeded Houston Christian, who won 1-0 in overtime on Wednesday over Southeastern, play the other semifinal.
"Tonight, again was the first of many firsts this team has experienced this year. Our team and our staff have continued to take the same approach throughout the season, never looking forward but only the game we are about to play. Because of this mindset, we again came ready to play and were fearless," said coach
Ashley Gordon.
"I am super excited about our first conference tournament victory, but it's important for us to get ready for our semifinal game vs Northwestern State. Both teams know each other well and we look forward to our third matchup against them this season."
After being named to first team all-conference earlier in the day,
Ashley Campuzano (Dallas – Atlas Prep) got the Lions' first goal on the board in the 37
th minute, with an assist from
Mya Mitchell (Dallas – Atlas Prep), who was named the conference's Freshman of the Year on Wednesday morning.
Campuzano took it herself and kicked from the right corner to open the scoring. The Islanders tied the match in the 46
th minute on a goal by Morgan Westbury.
ASHLEY CAMPUZANO GOAL HIGHLIGHT
The Lions took back the lead in the 52
nd minute on a goal by Mitchell, with
Karalie Morrison (Colleyville Heritage) assisting. Morrison drew the extra defender on her drive down to the field and passed it to Mitchell, who just had one defender in her way. That was Mitchell's ninth goal of the season.
MYA MITCHELL GOAL HIGHLIGHT
Logging 90 minutes in goal,
Jen Peters (Allen) recorded three saves in the win. Emily Levy had eight saves for the Islanders in goal.
Of the 17 shots, 10 were on goal. Campuzano had five shots, which were all on goal. Mitchell and Morrison recorded three shots each. For A&M-Corpus Christi, both Mai-Lisa Atis and Megan Guy had three shots off the bench.
The Lions won both matchups over the Islanders this season, while they fell 4-1 to the Lady Demons at home and dropped a 1-0 decision in Natchitoches on October 16.
-TAMUC-
