Best-ever season ends in 0-0 tie

Lady Lions battle to scoreless draw vs HT

Team ends with 6 wins, outshoots Rams 22-10

AUSTIN, Texas  --  The Southwestern Assemblies of God University women’s soccer team wrapped up a very fruitful season with a scoreless tie against Huston-Tillotson University late this afternoon.

The teams fought through two overtimes with the zeroes unbudging.

SAGU (6-11-1, 4-5-1 in RRAC) entered the game tied in sixth place and were playing for a berth in the Red River Athletic Conference tournament.

Unable to topple the Rams (3-13-2, 3-6-1 in RRAC), the Lady Lions finished seventh following Bacone College’s 1-0 win over Texas College.

The Warriors won their final three games, outscoring their foes 14-1, to move past SAGU.

Still, the Purple Pride won more games than ever. The program began in 2006.

A season after scoring only 13 and being shutout a dozen times, the team booted a record 28 goals and was blanked in just eight contests.

In 2011 the Lions permitted 52 goals. This fall they held the opposition to 32.

Bacone owned the tie-breaker based on a 1-0 win over SAGU a month ago. The Tribe finished the regular season with just 19 goals while allowing 44.

In this afternoon’s draw with Tillotson, the Lady Lions were the aggressors. They dominated control of the ball and scoring chances.

SAGU fired 22 shots, 11 of them on goal. HT was limited to 10 and three tries that were on goal.

“We possessed the ball very well,” said Head Coach Mandy Fortner. “We had a few good chances to score, all of them created up top (midfield and the frontline).”

“We struggled to put the ball in the net,” she continued, “but we controlled the pace of the game.”

Improvement by their middies and a solid line of defenders marked the progress the Pride displayed this fall. They will look to recruit playmakers and scorers for the 2013 season.

SAGU was called for 16 fouls compared to nine cited against the Rams. The team also created more cornerkicks and were flagged for more offside violations than HT.

Each indicated the Lions were clearly the assertive club on Saturday.

Post-Season Notes

A berth in the National Christian College Athletic Association’s Central Regional tournament remains a possibility. A decision will be made next week.

The regional will be hosted by Colorado Christian University, November 14-17 in Lakewood (Denver), Colorado.

The team went 2-2-1 in the past two weeks, scoring just twice.

The goal slump cost Amy Lambdin (Stockton, Cal / Elliot Christian) and Noelle Pugliese (Lee’s Summit, Mo / LS North HS) the school record in scoring, coming up just shy.

A season review will be posted next week.

Contact: Mark “Link” Warde, SAGU Sports Information Director, at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 469-658-2847.