The Lady Lions defeated the Northwestern State Lady Demons on Oct. 31, to seize the Southland Conference season title. The Lady Lions won the match 3-0, having scored once in the first half, and twice in the second.
“I believe our team had put in all the work and it was really fantastic to see the looks on their faces when the game was over, and just see the sheer celebration from their standpoint,” said head coach Blake Hornbuckle.
The Lady Lions finished the regular season 14-2-3 overall, with a conference record of 7-1-1, placing them as the first seed of the conference tournament.
Scoring was opened up in the 30th minute of play, with sophomore midfielder Karly Dagys scoring, and an assist credited to sophomore forward Maiya Cooper. From there on, the Lady Lions took the lead and were not in danger of giving it up. In the 72nd minute, Cooper found the net on an assist by sophomore midfielder Tabitha McReynolds. Finally, in the 81st minute, the Lady Lions sealed the Lady Demons fate, with a score from senior midfielder Natalie Santana, assisted by red-shirt freshman forward Cambri Prevost.
“It’s a great feeling to know that your team works really hard for a win and get the goal, and that goal felt great,” Santana said.
The team, led by three seniors, is no stranger to conference play.
“Well, we have great senior leadership in Natalie [Santana], Brittany [Prieto] and Nicole [Brannigan], but we also have a fantastic cast in the other 20 players on the team, and everyone plays a role. A lot of people think it’s just the 11 on the field, but it takes the entire team to make it work,” Hornbuckle said.
This will be the team’s fifth appearance in tournament play, the latest being last year. They have appeared twice before (1998, 2009) in the conference tournament championship.
With the regular season wrapped up, Cooper finished with a team leading ten goals, while Dagys and Santana finished with six, and Prevost with five. Dagys led the team in assists with nine, followed by sophomore midfielder Kerry McWhirter with seven, and Santana with six. Junior goalkeeper Lacey Bockhaus had 9 shutouts, with 83 saves, culminating in a 0.47 shutout per game average, enough to take top honors in the conference.
The Lady Lions will play on Friday, Nov. 5, against the winner of the Texas State vs. Sam Houston State match.