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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - HBU soccer enters the Southland Conference Tournament as the fourth seed and are matched up against the reigning champions, fifth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana. The Huskies will take the pitch on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on the artificial surface at Jack Dugan Stadium and will be aired on the Southland Digital Network.
 
"I am extremely proud of the hard work the girls have put in this year," HBU head coach Misty Jones said. "We had taken a few conference losses and, in a situation where we could have thrown in the towel, we had a heart-to-heart talk before one practice and unanimously decided we weren't giving up and were going to put in the good fight. Since that moment, this team has excelled. This is a wonderful group and we are excited to be at the tournament!"
 
The Huskies (7-10-1, 5-5-1 SLC) are led offensively by senior midfielder Allison Abendschein, who has six goals and four assists for a total of 16 points. She scored a penalty kick against McNeese St. and had the game winner in the 2-1 victory against Southeastern Louisiana earlier this season. She is ranked eighth in conference with 44 shots. Senior defender Kristi O'Brien is coming off of a multi-goal performance against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi and is reigning defensive player of the week for the final week of regular-season play. She is the only Husky to be recognized as player of the week all season. She leads the team with two game-winning goals which occurred in the 1-0 win over UIW and in the 4-1 win against Texas A&M- Corpus Christi.
 
The time in goal has been split evenly between sophomore goalkeeper Alanis Guevara and junior goalkeeper Katie Turner. Guevara has played 873:52 minutes between the woodwork and has 12 goals against. She is fifth in the conference with a 1.24 goals-against average and eighth in save percentage with a .786. Her record in goal is 4-5-0 and she is tied at fifth with three shutouts. Turner has played 785:00 minutes between the pipes and has 19 goals against. She is ranked seventh in conference with 50 saves on the year and is tied for ninth with one shutout. Her record in goal is 3-5-1.
 
The Huskies as a team are tied for fourth with 30 goals on the season and fifth with 234 shots and 115 shots on goal. When HBU last saw Southeastern, it was in Hammond, Louisiana, where sophomore forward Sabriah Spencer and Abendshein were the goal scorers in HBU's 2-1 victory. The last time the Huskies faced the Lions in a tournament setting, the Huskies won in double overtime, 2-1, in the quarterfinals back in 2014, then went on to win the tournament.
 
The Lions (7-10-2, 4-6-1) are led offensively by Sofia Olsson, who is ranked third in the conference for number of shots as she recorded 51 and she is eighth in total goals with six. In goal for Southeastern Louisiana is reigning tournament MVP and goalkeeper of the week, Hope Sabadash. She is ranked ninth in conference for a 1.592 goals-against average, first in saves with 117, and is fourth with five shutouts on the season. As a team, the Lions are ranked first in overall shots with 346, eighth in total goals with 26, and third with 118 saves.
 
The first game of the tournament is Wednesday at 4 p.m. between third seed, Northwestern State, and sixth seed, McNeese. The winner of that game will advance to the semifinals with a matchup against number two seed, Stephen F. Austin, on Friday at 4 p.m. The winner between HBU and Southeastern will advance to play number one seed, Central Arkansas, on Friday at 7 p.m. The winner of both semi-finals game will go head-to-head on Sunday at 1:05 p.m. to battle for the chance to lift the trophy and will represent the entire Southland Conference with the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
 
All quarter-finals and semi-finals games will be aired on the Southland Digital Network and the championship game will be on ESPN3. Tickets will be available at the stadium and any Southland student has free admission with the appropriate school ID.