CLARKSVILLE, AR -- Texas Lutheran women's soccer claimed its second consecutive Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) Regular Season Championship after a 4-2 win over Ozarks (AR) Sunday evening at Wilson Athletic Complex in Clarksville, Arkansas.
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 13-3 (7-0 SCAC) as head coach
Kerwin Johnson moved into second in program history with 58 wins (58-26-9, .672), passing Mike Alderson (57-65-4, 2000, 2006-11). The Bulldogs finish the regular season 6-0 on the road for the first undefeated road season in program history, just one season after completing the first undefeated home season in program history. The Bulldogs are undefeated in their last 13 road games (12-0-1) dating back to last season. The Bulldogs seven game win streak is also the longest in program history.
After the Eagles (5-6-3, 1-3-2 SCAC) struck first with goals in the 2nd and 9th minutes, the first two goals the Bulldogs have allowed in-conference this season, to take a quick 2-0 lead. The Bulldogs responded by scoring four unanswered goals, two by
Natalia Cortez (Edinburg/Robert Vela) before freshman
Jocelyn Lugo's (San Antonio/Lee) 81st minute goal provided extra insurance for TLU, who is unbeaten in its last 22 conference games.
The Bulldogs found themselves trailing in the game for just the fourth time this season after the two early Eagles goals.
TLU was unfazed, however, just six minutes after their second goal
Makenzie Ivie (Portland/Gregory-Portland) sent a cross into the box that found
Alejandra Lopez (El Paso/Eastwood) for her fifth goal of the season. Two minutes later the Bulldogs were awarded a penalty kick that saw
Natalia Cortez equalize and that's where the score would remain to conclude the first half.
The Bulldogs took their first lead in the second half after Ivie fed Cortez who put a move on two defenders before scoring her second goal to complete the brace, connecting from just outside the box. The brace is her second of the season and it is the second multi-assist outing of the season for Ivie. The game-winner is Cortez's seventh of the season, tying Sioned Kirkpatrick for the most in a single-season in program history as she climbs to the national lead for Division-III in 2026.
With the Bulldogs clinging to a one-goal lead, the effort of three freshmen Bulldogs on a corner kick sealed the deal.
Presley Abshire (Tomball/Tomball) took the corner and crossed it into the box before
Giuliana Maldonado (Helotes/O'Connor) headed it to
Jocelyn Lugo who delivered the dagger.
TLU outshot Ozarks 34-5 and had 18 shots on goal to the Eagles two. Senior
Alysa Marquez (Miami, FL/Dr. Michael Krop) came in in relief to earn the win in-goal, the 38th of her career, as she moves into second all-time in program history in goalkeeper wins.
The Bulldogs will be the No. 1 seed in the SCAC Tournament as they look to win both conference titles for the first time in program history. They will conclude the regular season at home against Dallas on October 30 at 7:30 PM. Friday will act as Senior Day as the Bulldogs honor their seven-member senior class prior to the match. The match will be broadcast on FloCollege. All streaming and live stats links will be available on
tlubulldogs.com.
For all updates on Texas Lutheran Women's Soccer, follow @tluwsoc on X (Twitter) and Instagram and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on
tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on X (Twitter), @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).
