HOUSTON, Texas – More hardware will be making its way to the Beaumont, Texas due to the leadership of head coach soccer coach Steve Holeman, and his staff. For the second time in the past three seasons Lamar University has won the Southland Conference regular season title. The Cardinals wrapped up a share of the title with their 3-1 victory over Houston Baptist Sunday afternoon, and moments later got the news that UIW was upset by Stephen F. Austin in double overtime for the outright claim.
 
The Cardinals continued their outstanding win streak Sunday in Houston. With the win, LU increased the win streak to eight with a 9-1 (.900) mark in the Southland Conference play with one more game remaining.

"We fought through a lot of adversity this season," said LU head coach Steve Holeman. "I told our team after the game 'Congratulations and thank you,' because two months ago we were 1-5 and not many people were giving us much of a chance. I also thanked those who never gave up on us. Our roster was thin but these ladies never quit fighting."

"That is the character of this team. When we recruit kids we recruit those who want to be part of something special. We took it one game at a time. We opened the year against a very tough non-conference schedule -- nationally ranked Oklahoma State, nationally ranked Arkansas and Alabama which is an RPI top 30 team. We challenged our team and we kept it all in perspective. We knew the conference schedule was a new season."

The Cardinals started the half strong with four shots in the first 10 minutes. It took the fifth shot for the Cards to get on the scoreboard. Junior Esther Okoronkwo netted her 19^th goal of the season. Junior Madison Ledet found her teammate in the 12^th minute, and Okoronkwo did the rest. Lamar went up 1-0 early, but they could not hold the Huskies off for long. Houston Baptist was able to find the equalizer in the 26^th minute of the match. The Cardinals had a few more attempts in the half but were unable to break the tie going into halftime.
 
Coming out of the half, the Cardinals knew they wanted to break the tie. They did just that only four minutes into the second. Sophomore Anna Loftus and Ledet combined for a lovely play, that ended up with junior Lucy Ashworth netting the goal. Ashworth's goal put Big Red up 2-1. The Cards continued their pressure and found the net again. Ashworth added her second goal of the game in the 52^nd minute, and the Cards went up 3-1 early in the second half.
 
Ashworth and Okoronkwo continued their strong seasons today. With Ashworth's two goals today, she is now alone at second place in goals in the entire NCAA. Ashworth also has 11 assists on the season putting her tied for fourth on the NCAA assist leaderboard. Okoronkwo was sitting in second place on the NCAA goal scoring list before today's match, but with her goal, she moves up and is now tied for first in the nation. The duo looks to add to their tallies next week in their final game of the season.

"We are still fighting for a lot of things on Friday," said Holeman. "McNeese is our rival and they will be ready to play, it will be our senior night which means the last home game for our only senior - Macie McFarland - she is our captain and everyone is going to want to fight for her. It won't be hard for this team to get motivated for Friday's game."

 
Lamar will head home for their final game of the regular season against McNeese on Nov. 1 at the LU Soccer Complex. The game will begin at 7 p.m. and serve as Senior Night for the Cardinals.