Soccer No. 6 Seed at Southland Tournament
10/30/2011 7:17:00 PM | Soccer
The Bearkats completed the regular season with an 8-11-1 record and finished sixth in the Southland Conference standings with a 4-5 league mark.
Sam Houston will face the third-seeded Lamar Cardinals in the first round Thursday night at 4:30 p.m. The Cardinals finished third in the conference race with a 6-2-1 mark and produced a 9-7-2 record overall for the season.
The winner of Thursday's match will advance to play number two seed Texas State on Friday night at 4:30 p.m.
Lamar defeated Sam Houston 1-0 in overtime in Beaumont in the two team's meeting two weeks ago.
Regular season Southland champion Stephen F. Austin earned the No. 1 seed in the Southland Tournament with a perfect 9-0-0 league record. The Lumberjacks allowed just one goal in conference play (the goal scored by Sam Houston's Tricia Mallory last Friday night in a 3-1 loss to the Jacks in Nacogdoches.
The title is Stephen F. Austin's sixth regular-season championship and first since 2007. SFA ended the regular season 14-2-1, outscoring their opponents 58-7 during the fall.
Texas State finished 8-1-1 after winning seven consecutive conference matches to earn the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
Stephen F. Austin faces the winner of Thursday's second game as number four seed UTSA (8-8-2,5-3-1) will face number five seed Southeastern Louisiana (11-6-1, 5-4-0) at 7 p.m.
The winners of the two Friday matches will play for the tournament championship Sunday at 1 p.m., with the winner earning the league's automatic bid into the NCAA tournament.
The championship match will be televised by the Southland Conference Television Network. Check southland.org/television for a list of affiliates.
Sam Houston is making its fifth appearance in the Southland Conference tournament. This is the third consecutive year the Kats have traveled to the event.
The Bearkat soccer team is 3-4 in their previous trips to the tournament. All three of their victories have come at Demon Field in Natchitoches.
Sam Houston defeated Louisiana-Monroe 2-1 and Stephen F. Austin 3-1 to reach the finals in 2005. Host Northwestern State won the final game 1-0 in overtime.
In 2009, the Bearkats defeated UTSA 3-2 in overtime before falling to Texas State 2-1 in the semifinals.
All five matches of the 2011 soccer tournament will be streamed live on SLC NOW on the Southland Conference website, southland.org.
Single session tickets on Thursday and Friday are available for $10. Two-day, two-session tickets are $15. Tickets for Sunday's championship are $8 for adults and $6 for youth. Children under the age of 5 and students at Southland Conference institutions are free with valid ID.
