No. 19 Texas Lutheran Falls to Southwestern in Regular Season Finale

SEGUIN, Texas --  No. 19 Texas Lutheran fell to Southwestern Saturday night, 2-1, at Gustafson Field in the 2023 regular season finale and a de facto SCAC Tournament elimination game.

The Bulldogs end their regular season with a 14-3 record and finish 5-3 in SCAC play while Southwestern improves to 10-2-3 and end their regular season 6-2 in conference action.

The Pirates opened the scoring in the 14th minute and that's where the score would remain until the second half when Diego Roman (Houston/Lamar) would net the equalizer in the 52nd minute, his first goal of the season and of his career.

The score would stay equal for just over ten minutes until a 63rd minute goal gave the Pirates their final advantage of 2-1.

In total, Texas Lutheran out shot the Pirates 10-6 but the Pirates would hold a 3-1 advantage in shots on goal.

Texas Lutheran's postseason fate now lies in the hands of the St. Thomas Celts (11-3-1), who would need to lose to Schreiner (5-8-2) in their 3 PM Sunday match, to make the SCAC Tournament.

If this is the end of their season, the Bulldogs  - a team picked to finish fifth in the preseason poll - conclude the 2023 season with a 14-3 record, going 5-3 in the SCAC to claim fifth place in the conference in the regular season. The 14-3 finish is the best finish in program history by winning percentage (.824). The 14 wins tie for the  second most in program history. The Bulldogs 12-0 start was also the best start in program history. Texas Lutheran, a team that has ranked amongst the top 20 defenses throughout the 2023 season, ends their regular season with a 0.70 goals against average - the best in program history. The 9.5 shutouts from Noel Pena (Houston/Cy-Falls) and 10 shutouts from TLU in total are also program bests.

The Bulldogs will graduate four seniors: Santiago Quinonez (Chihuahua, Mexico/New Braunfels), Mark Costanza (Tyler/Robert E. Lee), Efrain Huerta (San Antonio/Brennan), and Luis Zamora (Conroe/Conroe). We thank them for all of their contributions to the Texas Lutheran men's soccer program.