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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Fourth-seeded HBU took home the championship trophy and will advance to its second NCAA Tournament in three years after shutting out second-seeded SFA, 1-0, in the Southland Conference Women's Soccer Tournament championship match Sunday afternoon at Jack Dugan Soccer Stadium. The Huskies also defeated the Ladyjacks, 2-0, in the 2014 SLC Championship match, en route to making the first NCAA appearance by an HBU women's program.
"We are so proud of the effort and determination that the girls put in this week and weekend," head coach
Misty Jones commented. "SFA is an excellent team and made us fight to keep the lead. It is nice to bring the trophy back home. Two championships in three years is big for our program. Being the underdog puts less pressure on us and we were able to play our game. It was a tremendous effort from the players and staff and we would like to thank the fans that traveled from all over to support us. The team personified what it means to be a champion."
Four minutes was all it took for the Huskies (10-10-1) to take the lead. HBU won a corner kick on the right side of the field. Senior forward
Alessia Dal Monte lined up to take the kick and placed it perfectly to find senior midfielder
Allison Abendschein's head. Abendschein ran near post and redirected the ball to the far post, which got past the Ladyjacks' (13-5-0) goalkeeper. Four minutes later, sophomore goalkeeper
Alanis Guevara was asked to make a near post save from a shot that was taken just outside of the 18 yard box on the left side.
SFA never backed down as sophomore forward
Autumn Wildung cleared the ball off of the line just three minutes later. Guevara made other key saves, one in the 13
th minute when she made a point blank save with many players in her box and again five minutes later when she got off of her line quickly to beat the charging Ladyjack. Abendschein had a chance to double the lead, but it hit the crossbar and SFA cleared it. With just seconds left in the half, Guevara came out to snatch the ball after SFA popped it up to keep the shutout going into halftime.
Three minutes into the second half, SFA took a short corner and Hall was there to break up the combination and won the Husky goal kick. In the 57
th minute, SFA looked dangerous in the box, but Guevara came up big with a deflection save from inside of the six. SFA won another corner in the 72
nd minute. The ball ended up on the foot of an open Lady Jack at the top of the box, but as she shot it O'Brien caught up with the play and blocked the shot. Less than a minute later, a Ladyjack took a dangerous shot from the right outside of the 18, but Guevara had great coverage as the ball went wide of the post.
Guevara was faced with another ball in the box in the 85
th minute, this time, she punched it away over a Ladyjack's head and was there again for the ball right back into the box. For a last minute effort, SFA sent their goalkeeper into the opposite box for a free kick, but the Huskies stayed strong defensively and the end result was the Huskies taking the trophy back home to Houston.
The Huskies had a total of three shots on goal, from Hall, Abendschein, and sophomore forward
Sabriah Spencer. Guevara took home the win with four key saves to keep the shutout for the match.
The Ladyjacks had four different players with one shot on goal, which consisted of Kelly Ann Craig, Madison Hall, Hailey Hunt, and Katie Jennings. Lillie Ehlert was in the net for SFA and took home the loss with two saves and one goal against.
The Huskies on the All-Tournament team were
Ellee Hall,
Alanis Guevara,
Kristi O'Brien,
Sabriah Spencer,
Alessia Dal Monte, and Most Valuable Player award went to
Allison Abendschein.
With the win, the Huskies receive the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. There will be a selection show watch party located in Dillion II in Hinton at 3 p.m on Monday.The selections will begin at 3:30 p.m.
