The Lady Lions soccer team defeated the Lamar University Lady Cardinals 3-2 this past Friday at Strawberry Stadium. This victory makes their record 4-2 in conference play and 9-3-1 in the overall season. The Lady Lions have yet to lose a game at home this season and are in the hunt to finish on top in the Southland Conference.

The Lady Lions went into this game as the team with the highest goals per game average and the team that has scored the most points this season in the Southland Conference according to southland.org. 

The first goal of the game came early for the high scoring Lady Lions as junior forward Bri Singh scored 1:45 into the first half with the assist coming from senior forward Kayla Vera.

Senior defender Maddie Allen missed a shot that hit the crossbar at the 4:40 mark of the first half. Senior midfielder Gisenia Utreras scored the second goal of the half for the Lady Lions at the 13:37 mark in the half making the score 2-0. The goal was assisted by Singh.

At the 38:34 mark in the first half, the Lady Lions scored their third goal, making the score 3-0 in just the first half. Utreras scored off of a redirected assist from junior defender Lauren Lorentz and Singh.

This was Utreras’ 10th goal of the season and she leads the team in goals this season.

In the second half, the Lady Cardinals began to make a comeback by scoring their first goal of the game at the 62:02 mark by freshman forward Jordan Mulnix assisted by senior forward Mari Olastuen making the score 3-1.

At the 86:58 mark, the Lady Cardinals would score again. Mulnix scored her second goal of the night assisted by senior defender and midfielder Megan Campbell bringing the score to 3-2.

The Lady Lions found themselves in a fight to hold on to the lead late in the second half.

Following the team’s victory, Head Coach Blake Hornbuckle rated the team’s performance. 

“I think we had a good first half,” said Hornbuckle. “The second half we encountered some challenges.”

Coach Hornbuckle pointed to the play of freshman midfielder Elizabeth McMurray as being a huge reason for the team’s victory.

“I think Liz McMurray had a good game,” said Hornbuckle. “She did everything that we needed her to do.”

The stakes were very high for the Lady Lions going into this game as they continue to try to advance into the Southland tournament.

“It’s do or die at this point for us,” said Allen. “We’re struggling to get into the conference tournament, and we don’t want to leave the season without a ring.”

Allen also believes that there is still room for improvement for the team going forward in the season.

“In the backline we need to be more focused,” said Allen. “We can’t fall asleep and late in the game we have to finish more.”

The Lady Lions have two critical conference games next weekend on the road against Sam Houston State on Friday at 7:00 p.m. and Stephen F. Austin on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Both wins are needed to stay in the hunt to make the Southland Conference tournament.

Courtesy of Lady Lions Soccer 
The Lady Lions Soccer team will be facing off against conference opponents Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin this coming weekend in two away games.