ROUND ROCK, Texas -- No. 1 seed TLU women's soccer saw its season end Friday afternoon after a penalty kick shootout against No. 4 seed Concordia (TX). The teams remained at a scoreless draw after two overtime periods, and the Tornados won the shootout, 3-2.
Emma Alvarado (Austin/Johnson) nearly won it for the Bulldogs late in the first overtime but was turned away by the Tornados goalkeeper's fingertips.
The Bulldogs had a number of chances throughout, finishing with 28 shots and 11 shots on goal. The Bulldogs were relentless controlling possession and keeping pressure throughout regulation and both overtime periods, but could not find that golden goal.
The two teams split the first two penalties with
Natalia Cortez (Edinburg/Robert Vela) converting the first attempt for TLU. Trailing 2-1,
Lilly Noblett (San Antonio/Warren) converted on her's to tie 2-2 but the Bulldogs would miss their final two attempts to allow the Tornados to advance.
The Bulldogs - a team picked to finish first in the preseason poll - conclude the 2026 season with a 14-3-1 record, going 8-0 in the SCAC to claim their second straight regular season championship and first undefeated conference season in program history. The 2026 season proved to be among the best in program history. The Bulldogs set a new program record for conference winning percentage (1.000) and finished with the highest winning percentage in program history (.806). Cortez became the fourth Bulldog in program history to earn SCAC Offensive Player of the Year while Noelani Ajel became the third player in SCAC history to repeat as SCAC Defensive Player of the Year. Alysa Marquez (Miami, FL/Dr. Michael Krop) finished the season with 9.0 shutouts, the second most in a single-season in program history and set a new single-season program record with a 0.58 goals against average. Marquez concludes her TLU career with the lowest goals against average in program history (0.86).
The Bulldogs will graduate seven seniors: Cortez, Marquez, Brooklyn Keily (Round Rock/McNeil), Mikayla Greer (New Braunfels/Davenport), Kristina Cromwell (Spring/Klein Collins), Caitlin Roach (Houston/Manvel), and Tila Hendrus (New Braunfels/Canyon) We thank them for all of their contributions to the Texas Lutheran women's soccer program.
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).
