CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team punched its ticket to the postseason in its season finale on Thursday evening, downing UIW by a final score of 2-1 to secure the seventh seed in the 2025 Southland Conference Soccer Championships.
The Islanders (5-8-5, 3-4-3 SLC) entered play on Thursday knowing a win would advance them into the postseason and brought this knowledge with them onto the field right away, pressing forward from the opening kick and getting the ball to redshirt senior
Madison Page in the box, who was taken down for a penalty just 34 seconds into the match. The honors on the try were given to senior
Morgan Westbury, and she stepped up and sent her shot to the bottom left corner of the net just past the outstretched arms of the Cardinals' (4-8-4, 2-5-3 SLC) keeper, putting A&M-Corpus Christi out in front before the first minute was even over. The goal was Westbury's third of the season and 18
th of her career with the team, moving her just one shy of Yvette Franco for the all-time program lead.
Even with the early advantage, A&M-Corpus Christi kept pressing the issue on offense, getting another opportunity going on a run by junior
Ashley Wilson at the seven-minute mark. After cutting from the midfield line all the way into UIW territory, Wilson found freshman
Emma Lucero right outside the box on the right side of the field, who took the pass and one-timed it from distance over the head of the keeper and perfectly into the top left corner of the net to give the Islanders a 2-0 advantage. This was Lucero's second score of the year after she picked up her first collegiate goal against UTRGV on October 19, and on the other end, it marked the ninth assist in the three-year career of Wilson, breaking a tie with Westbury, Maggie Murray and
Molly Arens and giving her sole possession of first place in program history.
After bringing their 2-0 lead into the break, the Islanders had another shot at getting on the board, drawing a free kick just outside the box and seeing junior
Katie Porter rifle a shot right into the chest of the UIW keeper for a nice save. After this, the Cardinals started to get their own offensive attack started, first making their way down the field and getting a trio of tries off that were all blocked by A&M-Corpus Christi in a scrum that resulted in a clearance the other way. Another good try came in the 63
rd minute on a shot that was punched over the crossbar in an excellent save by sophomore keeper
Jessie Spurrell, but on the ensuing corner kick, UIW got itself on the board on a redirected cross that found the head of Taylor Kish for the visitors' first goal of the evening.
Now with their advantage cut in half, the Islanders found themselves needing to hold on over the final third of the game, and they tried to do this at first by pressing the issue again on offense. In the home stretch, however, it was their defensive effort that brought them home, as they managed to survive an intense conclusion that saw the Cardinals bang a shot off a crossbar and draw both a corner kick and a free kick in dangerous position all in the final 10 minutes of the night. None of these resulted in the equalizing goal, though, and as a result, A&M-Corpus Christi ran the clock to zeroes and extended its season by at least one more match.
In the scoresheet, the Islanders were actually outshot 20-12 by the Cardinals and surrendered three corner kicks while taking only two, but a strong performance in their defensive side of the field helped to nullify these advantages just enough to hold on. Individually, Westbury led the way with one of her best games of the season, putting in the early goal while also putting two shots on goal from open play during her 54 minutes on the pitch. Page led the way in the overall shots category with three, and both Porter and senior
Mai-Lisa Atis managed to put up a pair as well. Spurrell also did a fine job in net, surrendering just the lone goal in the second half while making a trio of very important saves and keeping her composure despite a frantic run from UIW to end it.
The Islanders will now start their preparations for the Southland Conference Soccer Championships next week, drawing No. 2 Stephen F. Austin for their opening round matchup on Tuesday, with the start time still yet to be determined.
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