ABILENE, Texas — It was a day of firsts for Lamar University's women's soccer team as they were appearing in their first ever Western Athletic Conference tournament. They would get their first ever WAC tournament goal and it would be enough for the Cardinals to advance to the semifinals with a 1-0 win over New Mexico State.
LU spent most of the game on the defensive end as they had to withstand 32 shots from NMSU. Nicole Panis would save one-fourth of those shots recording eight in goal. On offense, LU took just eight shots with Christine Kitaru and Laura Linares each putting up two shots. The Cardinals' lone goal scorer was Eva Karen who netted hers in the 47th minute on an assist from Isela Ramirez.
Avoiding a similar fate like last season when LU was unable to hold onto their lead in the postseason, head coach Steve Holeman praised his team's effort following the win.
"We hung on," said head coach Holeman. "Anyone who watched the game saw that New Mexico State had tons and tons of opportunities. But, our defense has been solid. We feel that we have one of the best goalkeepers in the conference and she was big for us. Like we said, we learned from last year. We had a one goal lead and we had to protect it. We did a really good job."
Despite being outshot 15-2 in the first half, the Cards would keep it scoreless thanks in part to five saves by Panis in goal, including one seconds before halftime. Over a minute into the second half, LU would get their first goal courtesy of Karen with Ramirez recording the assist. Again, LU withstood another barrage of shots by the Aggies, who outshot LU 17-6. But again, Panis came up huge, especially with two minutes to spare.
The Cardinals will enter the semifinals this Friday at 4:00 PM to take on the top seed in the West in Grand Canyon.
Lamar opens WAC Tournament with shutout of New Mexico State
Cardinals to face Grand Canyon in WAC Semifinals