Senior Hope Sabadash recorded nine saves setting a new school record for career saves.
Kelonda Dixon/The Lion's Roar

The Lady Lions Soccer Team went head to head with the Houston Baptist University Huskies and the Texas A&M Corpus Christi Islanders in two games. 

On Friday, Sept. 30, the Lady Lions played against Houston Baptist followed by Texas A&M on Sunday, Oct. 2. 

After a three-game losing streak, the Lady Lions soccer team was able to make it to victory in the game against Corpus Christi, with a single goal made in overtime by junior midfielder and forward Maddie Kresevic on Youth Day. 

Leading up to the Corpus Christi game, the Lady Lions fell short in a close game of 2-1 against the Huskies. In the first half of the game against the Huskies, the team led offensively with a goal made by sophomore midfielder and defender Payton Colson, making that her second goal of the season. 

Although the team was ahead 1-0 and held out defensively, including seven saves by senior goalkeeper Hope Sabadash, Houston Baptist managed to make two goals in the 55th and 59th minutes to put the Huskies ahead to finish at 2-1.

Despite this loss, the Lady Lions continued on with their next game against the Islanders with the support of fans on Youth Day. At the beginning of the game, many young fans, including Metairie, Louisiana native Abby Naquin, were able to come down onto the field to stand up during the national anthem and get high fives from the Lady Lions after the anthem was over. 

“It felt cool,” said Naquin in regards to being able to stand on the field. 

In the first and second halves, the team made multiple shots at the goal, including four attempts made by sophomore forward and midfielder Sofia Olsson, three attempts by senior forward and midfielder Casey Peacock and six attempts by freshman midfielder Ylva Svendsen, but the Islanders made many saves in defending the goal, deadlocking the score. 

During halftime, in conjunction with Youth Day, fans Hunter Stewart, Grace Burris, Daniel Wittey and Owen Orlando participated in a three-legged race and winners Stewart and Burris received a prize. 

“It was really cool that I was able to race with someone I didn’t know and to compete up against an opponent I didn’t know,” said Grace Burris, daughter of Assistant Professor of Computer Science John Burris.

Sabadash also made a total of nine saves this game, adding to her career record of 359. It was in the 34th minute that Sabadash surpassed the previous school record held by Allison Holladay from 1997 to 1999 at a mark of 351. 

“It’s an honor to even be able to have a record up,” said Sabadash. “Honestly, I was more focused on us winning today than that record.” 

With defense holding out for both teams the game went into overtime, where in the first few minutes, a foul was called on Corpus Christi allowing Kresevic to make a penalty kick goal, her second goal of the season, and the Lady Lions to make the win, 1-0. 

“I knew what had to be done, so I just focused in,” said Kresevic. “[I felt] very relieved.” 

From here, Interim Head Coach Matt Muia wants to see the team continue to improve.

“We just really want to empower the girls, and show them that they can do anything that they put their minds to,” said Muia. “I definitely want to see us keep moving forward. Obviously winning games is something we’d like to do, but we’re going to continue to get better each day, and we will continue to prepare and work towards our goal of making the conference tournament.” 

Up next, the Lady Lions will travel to Beaumont, Texas to take on Lamar University for a conference game on Friday, Oct. 7. 

The defending Southland champs are 5-7-1 after their win against Houston Baptist. Six games are left as the Lady Lions prepare for the Southland Conference Tournament. 
Kelonda Dixon/The Lion's Roar

​Junior midfielder and forward Maddie Kresevic scored the game winning goal in overtime on a penalty kick defeating the Houston Baptist University Huskies.
Kelonda DixonThe Lion's Roar