On senior day at Lion Soccer Field, Texas A&M University-Commerce sent Brionna Minde, Catie Hyde and Tracey Rogers off victorious in a 2-0 win over Eastern New Mexico University. It was the final regular season home game for those seniors as the Lions turn their attention to the Lone Star Conference Championships this weekend in San Angelo, Texas.
The Lions used effective defense and controlled the midfield to limit the chances for the Zias. A&M-Commerce then countered to earn corners and set pieces and capitalized on those for their two goals.
The best chance for Eastern New Mexico came on an indirect kick from inside the six-yard box after a foul was called on the Lions in the seventh minute. As both teams were racing to set up there was a miscommunication between the Zia players as to who should take the kick. The confusion allowed the Lions to prevent a quality chance and keep the game scoreless.
A&M-Commerce broke the scoreless tie in the 27th minute when Callie Annett put a rebound home after a shot from Catie Hyde. The goal was set up by a long throw in by Ashley Phillips. Annett's tally was her fourth goal of the season and Hyde's first assist in 2013.
Eastern New Mexico had back-to-back corner kicks in the 33rd minute but we unable to get a scoring chance from either.
When the Lions gained a corner kick in the 58th minute, Minde played in the corner and Vicky Back won the battle in the box and headed home the Lions second goal of the match. Back now has four goals on the season and Minde has six assists in her senior season.
That was not the end of the chances for the Lions. In the 74th minute the Lions won two corners and got three shots from those two corners. Shots by Julia Hernandez, Savannah Henderson and Callie Annett were all saved by Fabienne Wilson to keep the score at 2-0.
The Zias did not threaten in the closing minutes of the game to try and cut the lead in half.
Callie Ballard recorded her seventh shutout of the season for the Lions and imporved her record to 9-5-1 in net for the Lions. Ballard now is tied for the fourth most shutouts in a single season in program history.
A&M-Commerce now turns its attention to the Lone Star Conference Tournament this weekend. The Lions will face the Mustangs of Midwestern State for the third time this season in the semifinals. The two sides split the season series with each team winning on the road. The winner of the semifinal game will take on the winner of the West Texas A&M and Angelo State for the LSC Crown and automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, November 10.
