SAN ANTONIO, Texas – With the Southland Conference Tournament on the horizon, the HCU women's soccer team will close out the regular season this Thursday evening at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium with a share of the conference regular season title still a possibility.
The Huskies (8-3-7, 4-0-5 SLC) are currently in second place in the conference standings, three points behind the Lamar Cardinals while three teams are within two points of HCU. Directly behind HCU, with 16 points, is UIW (8-7-3, 5-3-1 SLC) with McNeese and Northwestern State on 15 points. Should HCU win on Thursday and Lamar lose, the Huskies would own the tiebreaker over the Cardinals based on results against the teams closest to the top of the standings.
HCU heads into Thursday's game riding the fourth-longest unbeaten streak in the country as the Huskies have gone 13 matches without a loss. UNC-Wilmington owns the longest streak in the nation currently, at 18.
The Huskies played league-leading Lamar to a 1-1 draw last Sunday, falling behind in the 72nd minute before an Isabella Dillow goal off a corner kick evened things up in the 75th minute. Dillow is now tied for the team lead alongside Paisley Barela with six goals. The senior leads the team with 17 points (6 goals, 5 assists). Fellow senior Olivia Rossman leads the team and is tied for fourth in a single season in program history with eight assists.
UIW won four of its first five SLC games but has since posted a 1-2-1 record, most recently falling at Stephen F. Austin, 1-0. The Cardinals have not lost at home, however, and sport a 5-0-3 mark on their home turf. UIW has a balanced attack with eight different players scoring two to three goals this season. In goal, Hannah Alexander has played all but 45 minutes and owns a 1.31 goals against average with 78 total saves and a .772 save percentage.
The Huskies won last year's meeting in Houston, 2-1, with Katya Alexis and Dillow scoring. Goalkeeper Emmy McKeon finished that game with four saves.
The 2026 SLC Tournament begins next week on Tuesday, Nov. 10, in Commerce, Texas with the Nos. 2 through 7 seeds playing. The top seed in the tournament receives a bye to the semifinals on Thursday, Nov. 12.
