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STANFORD, California - HBU women's soccer heads out west to take on top-seeded Stanford in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at 9 p.m. CST at Laird Q. Cagan Stadium.
 
"(Playing Stanford) will be a really tough match for us. I do think a couple years ago, we went into the Texas A&M match and decided to play them straight up and it maybe was not the best philosophy," head coach Misty Jones said. "We will review a lot of film and we will definitely play strategically at this point. It is about playing to win, so we are going to do everything we can try to find any weaknesses they may have and go from there. We are going to go out there and we will represent the University well and give it everything that we have. These girls have been fantastic and are hard workers. They will give us everything and we will put our best foot forward."
 
The Huskies enter the NCAA Tournament for the second time in program history after taking care of business in Corpus Christi, where they captured the Southland Conference Tournament Championship. HBU shut out regular-season champion Central Arkansas in the semifinal and second-seeded Stephen F. Austin in the final. The Huskies outscored their opponents, 5-1, and landed six on the All-Tournament team.  They consisted of senior midfielder and Tournament MVP Allison Abendschein, senior forward Alessia Dal Monte, sophomore forward Sabriah Spencer, senior defender Kristi O'Brien, junior midfielder Ellee Hall, sophomore goalkeeper Alanis Guevara, who posted the two clean sheets.
 
The offense finished strong this season with 35 goals in 21 contests. Abendschein led the offensive stats with eight goals and four assists and had two game winners last week in the tournament, including the lone goal in the final. Spencer tallied six goals and five assists and Hall also had six goals with two assists. Sophomore forward Gabby Rodriguez matched Spencer and Hall with six goals as well.
 
"We knew all along what our potential was, but during regular season it seemed like we would barely fall short, whether it was one or two crucial breakdowns in the back or not capitalizing on opportunities up top," Hall said. "I think the pressure of the last five games brought the team together and we started playing more as a team. Our back line was united and dominant the entire tournament by only letting in one goal against some of the best teams in the conference. The front line and midfield were connecting well up top and this created more opportunities to score. Most importantly we were able to put the ball in the back of the net, which is something we had been missing at the beginning of the season."
 
Guevara has tended the net the past nine games. She has posted five shutouts on the year with a 1.02 goals against average. She had one goal against her in the tournament and shut out top-seeded Central Arkansas and second-seeded Stephen F. Austin. Only in her second season, she was named one of the team captains.
 
"As a team, we know it's going to be a hard game, so we're just mentally preparing for that and working on team shape. Organization in the back is going to be key in this game," Guevara said. "It's an honor to be playing in the NCAA tournament, I just want to make HBU proud."
Stanford won its 11th Pac-12 championship and has earned the honor of entering the tournament as one of the top seeds. This will be the 19th consecutive NCAA appearance and the 26th for the program. The Cardinal ended the season 17-1-1 and 10-0-1 at home. Stanford outscored their opponents, 47-16, and has averaged 16.7 shots per game.
 
Live stats of the match will be available athttp://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=stan and the game will also be streaming live on https://www.facebook.com/Stanfordwsoccer/