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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Fourth-seeded HBU advanced to semifinals of the Southland Conference Women's Soccer Tournament with a 2-1 victory over fifth-seeded Southeastern Louisiana in the opening round Wednesday night at Jack Dugan Stadium.
 
"The girls played a great, complete game tonight," HBU head coach Misty Jones said. "We knew it was going to be a battle. The girls fought hard until the final whistle. We faced some adversity early on…with a goal being called back in the opening minutes and then giving up a goal, but the response was awesome. We scored two clinical goals and then held on for the win. The plan is to carry that momentum into the semifinal match on Friday."
 
The Huskies (8-10-1) found the back of the net four minutes into the game, but it was called back because of a foul in the box. Senior forward Alessia Dal Monte took a free kick close to the left corner flag and curved the ball perfectly to get past the keeper, but as that was happening, there was a foul on the Huskies. In the 14^th minute of the matchm the Lions were in Husky territory and had a second chance to play the ball in the box which was played by Lauren Babcock. Sophomore goalkeeper Alanis Guevara came off her line but could not make contact. Amber Marinero made contact with her head and the ball trickled past the goal line to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. Seven minutes later sophomore forward Sabriah Spencer played a perfectly paced ball through the two defenders to junior midfielder Ellee Hall. She took on the keeper one-on-one and curved the ball to the right and it hit the back of the net to tie the game at one.
 
In the 74^th minute, senior midfielder Allison Abendschein took Southeastern Louisiana's goalkeeper one-on-one and struck the ball towards the near post. Hope Sabadash made a brilliant save to force the ball past the post. Two minutes later, the Huskies were rewarded a corner kick which was taken Dal Monte. Abendschein dove and made contact with her head to bury the ball in the back of the net for the game winning goal from the six-yard box. Hall had another chance as she took the ball from a mistouch from a Lion with nine minutes left in regulation. She took the ball over 60 yards but the score remained 2-1. One minute later, the Lions had a scoring opportunity as the ball was struck and dipped just in time to hit the crossbar for a Huskies goal kick.
 
Hall and Abendschein led HBU offensively as they each had three shots on goal. Spencer had one shot on goal to round out the Huskies total of seven. Guevara had three saves for the match and one goal against.
 
Southeastern Louisiana had Yiva Svendsen lead them with two shots on goal. Marinero and Marisa Rodrigues each had one shot on goal to round out the Lions total of four. Sabadash took the loss with five saves and two goals against.
 
The Huskies outshot the Lions, 15-14, but were even on corner kicks with six each. Southeastern had two more saves than the Huskies, 5-3.
 
The Huskies will take on number one seed Central Arkansas Friday at 7 p.m. for the semifinals at Jack Dugan Stadium.