Women's Soccer Falls to Trinity, 1-0, in SCAC Championship

HOUSTON, Texas -- Texas Lutheran women's soccer controlled the first half and battled throughout, but ultimately fell short against Trinity in the 2024 SCAC Tournament Championship in what was an instant classic that did not go the Bulldogs way. The Tigers scored the winner in double overtime to claim a 1-0 win Sunday afternoon at SaberCats Stadium in Houston.

Despite the Tigers having more shots, the Bulldogs controlled possession throughout the first half - maintaining possession for nearly 60 percent of the opening 45 minutes. The Bulldogs best opportunities came via a shot that was blocked by Trinity at point blank range and a shot from Callie Brame (San Antonio/Churchill) that was saved by the Trinity goalkeeper in the eighth minute.

Texas Lutheran continued to control possession in the second half as the stalemate held for the full 90 minutes, forcing overtime. The Bulldogs came out aggressive but couldn't find the back of the net. Kelly Wolfe (San Antonio/Churchill) had an impressive strike turned away by the Tigers and a Bulldogs corner kick that seemed to break the scoreless draw was waved off after a foul was called on TLU for fouling the Trinity goalkeeper.

Emma Alvarado (Buda/Johnson) had the best opportunity in overtime for TLU but her shot would bounce just off the left post. Trinity would end the scoreless draw in the 105th minute with a golden goal to bring the game to an end mere minutes before the game would have gone to penalty kicks.

Following the match, Natalia Cortez (Edinburg/Robert Vela), Jessica Robinson (Cibolo/Steele), and Klarissa Martinez (Houston/Incarnate Word Academy) were named to the All-SCAC Tournament Team.

The Bulldogs  - a team picked to finish second in the preseason poll - conclude the 2024 season with a 13-6-1 record, going 8-2 in the SCAC to claim second place in the conference in the regular season. The 2024 season proved to be among the best in program history. The Bulldogs set a new program record for conference winning percentage (.800) and fell just one win shy of matching the program record for wins in a season. The Bulldogs would finish with 39 assists on the season, the third most in a single season led by ten from Klarissa Martinez who ends the season one assist shy of matching the program's single season record. Martinez is just the second Bulldog to ever record double-digit assists in a single-season. Alyssa Simien (San Antonio/Warren) became the first player in SCAC history to earn SCAC Offensive Player of the Year three times, three-peating as the conference's best offensive player. Alysa Marquez (Miami, FL/Dr. Michael Krop) finished the season with 5.5 shutouts and matched the program record with 13 goalkeeper wins in a single-season. Kelly Wolfe ends her career with a program record of 83 games played and started. A program record 12 Texas Lutheran women's soccer players were all recognized by the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) headlined by Simien, Wolfe, and Jessica Robinson who were named All-SCAC First Team.

The Bulldogs will graduate four seniors: Alyssa Simien, Bailey Havens (Friendswood/Friendswood), Charleigh Phipps (Dripping Springs/Dripping Springs), and Kelly Wolfe. 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 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 Twitter, @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).