CORPUS CHRISTI , Texas - With a minute to go, the Cardinals were facing the prospect of a 1-1 tie to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after Northwestern State defeated UIW to draw within two points of them in the Southland Conference standings. But then, a long range from
Arely Alaniz put all doubt to rest as the Cardinals clinched the regular season conference title with a 2-1 win over the Islanders. With only one game left to go, LU is 12-1-2 overall and 9-1-1 in conference play.
Alaniz scored the game-winning goal while the second goal was an own goal by AMCC. Panis made three saves in goal while facing five shots as LU managed to finish with a 14-5 shots edge. This included a 7-4 margin in shots on goal.
The Islanders woke up the Cardinals right away in the first 30 seconds as they fired a shot attempt that Panis was able to make a save on. LU then turned up the pressure and had a few good chances through 21 minutes. One minute later, the Cardinals received a break as Alaniz's free kick took a bounce off an Islander and fell into a net for an own goal giving LU a 1-0 lead. Big Red kept this lead into halftime and stood 45 minutes away from the win.
But the Islanders would hold off the coronation for some time as in the 58th minute, they equalized off a corner kick for a 1-1 game. Big Red would try for the lead with six shots only for them to be off target while Panis made a critical save in the 69th minute. As the clock wound down to it's final minute, LU would have one more chance to break the tie. This time, they would capitalize as Alaniz struck one from way outside the box and into the net sealing the conference title for LU.
For first year head coach
Nathan Kogut, the commitment from all his players in their return to the conference as well as the benefits of winning the title before the end of the regular season is a truly momentous occasion for the program, who already won titles in 2017 and 2019. "I can't say enough about how proud I am of our girls," said head coach Kogut. "Being able to win the title with a game to spare is a great accomplishment, and being able to get a bye in the conference tournament is huge. We are so excited and can't wait to celebrate our seniors and our conference title at home next week."
This marks the third ever conference title for the Cardinals after winning it in 2017 and 2019. In both seasons, LU then went on to win the conference tournament and reach the NCAA tournament. LU got off to their best start in program history going 9-0-1, which bested the record from the 2020 team that went 8-1 to open their season. Big Red has received national praise being ranked as high as seventh nationally in the Midwest Region of the United Soccer Coaches Top 25 NCAA DI Women rankings.
In addition, the Cardinals have accumulated nine players of the week honors from the league including four goalkeepers of the week from Panis, two offensive players of the week each from
Christine Kitaru and
Cariel Ellis, and one defensive player of the week from
Miranda Urbizu.
The Cardinals will play their final home regular season game this coming Friday night against Nicholls at 7:00 PM. They will also be honoring seven seniors for their outstanding careers at LU.
