CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – No. 7 seed HCU jumped out to a 2-0 lead over No. 2 seed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi en route to a 2-1 opening round victory over the Lions on Wednesday at the Southland Conference Championship Tournament held at Dugan Soccer Stadium.
The Huskies (7-10) struck the first blow in the ninth minute when
Evelyn Slaughter let loose a shot that was stopped by the A&M-Commerce (9-7-3) keeper but the rebound fell right to
Katie Marker who promptly deposited the ball into the top of the net for a 1-0 advantage. The rest of the half remained at 1-0 until halftime with both sides putting four shots on goal apiece.
It took just over five minutes for the Huskies to net the insurance goal they would need with
Olivia Rossman collecting the ball near the top of the 18-yard box, deftly finding
Ryan Ford to the left with Ford lofting a perfectly placed shot into the top left corner for the score. It took just three minutes for the importance of that second goal to become known as Kaydence Ramirez connected with Melissa Storey for a well-scored goal by the Lions to making it a one-goal affair with more than 35 minutes still to play. The HCU defense remained strong however, limiting A&M-Commerce to just one more shot attempt the rest of the half to preserve the win.
Marker's goal was her fourth of the season while Ford's game-winner was her second score of the year. Slaughter now has five assists for the year, tying her for 10
th all-time in program history for a single season and Rossman now has two assists.
The win was the first in four tries for HCU vs. Texas A&M-Commerce and marks the second-consecutive year the Huskies have advanced to the tournament semifinals.
HCU is set to take on No. 3 seed McNeese on Friday, Nov. 3, at 4:00 p.m. in the semifinals. The Huskies fell to the Cowgirls, 2-1, at home in the lone meeting between the two teams back on Oct. 1. HCU held McNeese to just four shot attempts in the loss.
