BEAUMONT – The East Texas A&M University soccer team begins its journey to make its first ever NCAA Tournament in the Division I era by facing HCU in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament on Tuesday morning.
 
The Lions earned the fourth seed in the Southland Tournament, taking on the fifth-seeded Huskies in the first round, which is set for a 10 a.m. kick-off on Tuesday at the LU Soccer Complex.
 
The winner of the match will advance to face the winner of top-seeded Northwestern State and eighth-seeded McNeese on Thursday at 4 p.m. in the semifinal round. The Lady Demons and the Cowgirls battle at 1 p.m. on Tuesday. The other four teams to qualify for the SLC Tournament are SFA, Southeastern, A&M-Corpus Christi, and the hosts, Lamar.
 
The Lions have advanced to the conference tournament championship match twice in the last three seasons. This year's championship match is set for 1 p.m. on Sunday, November 9.
 
In the regular season, the Lions went 7-7-4 overall and 4-2-4 in conference play, while the Huskies went 9-8-2 in the regular season with a conference record of 4-4-2. The two teams met in Commerce on Thursday night with the Huskies winning 2-0.
 
The only other previous postseason meeting between the two teams came in 2023, also the first round of the Southland Tournament and it was won by the Huskies by a score of 2-1 in Corpus Christi.
 
All matches of the Southland Conference Soccer Tournament will be broadcasted on ESPN+. The full tournament schedule can be found below. More information on the tournament can be found HERE.
 
2025 SOUTHLAND SOCCER TOURNAMENT
Quarterfinals – Tuesday, November 4
10 A.M. – NO. 4 EAST TEXAS A&M VS. NO. 5 HCU
1 p.m. – No. 1 Northwestern State vs. No. 8 McNeese
4 p.m. – No. 2 SFA vs. No. 7 A&M-Corpus Christi
7 p.m. – No. 3 Southeastern vs. No. 6 Lamar
 
Semifinals – Thursday, November 6
4 p.m. – Match 1 winner vs. Match 2 winner
7 p.m. – Match 3 winner vs. Match 4 winner
 
Championship Match – Sunday, November 9
1 p.m. – Match 5 winner vs. Match 6 winner