BEAUMONT, Texas – The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi soccer team saw its 2025 season end in heartbreaking fashion on Tuesday evening, getting an equalizer at the death in regulation but eventually falling in a penalty shootout to No. 2 Stephen F. Austin in the quarterfinals of the Southland Conference Soccer Championships.
Heading into the matchup as the underdog according to seeding, the No. 7 Islanders (5-8-6, 3-4-3 SLC) found themselves having to play from behind early on in Tuesday's playoff bout, conceding a goal to the Lumberjacks (7-3-10, 5-1-4 SLC) in the third minute to fall behind 1-0. Facing this deficit, they began to string together chances on the offensive end at leveling up the score, starting with a pair of near misses on back-to-back restarts from redshirt senior
Madison Page and junior
Vanessa Wimbish that both forced saves by the SFA keeper. This attack continued through the entirety of the first half, with A&M-Corpus Christi outshooting the reigning conference champions seven to six and putting four of those tries on goal. None of these found the back of the net though, and as a result, the team went into the break still trailing one score.
The beginning of the second half saw the Lumberjacks start to get their attack revved up once again, but their advances were turned away by sophomore keeper
Jessie Spurrell, who strung together five saves within the first 16 minutes out of the locker room to keep the Islanders within striking distance. The deficit would remain at one as the clock started to inch toward zeroes, and in the scramble to keep the season alive, the Islanders finally found the break they needed, as Page was brought down in the box with just 58 seconds left to give them a penalty with the opportunity to tie things up once again. The responsibility for the try was given to senior
Mai-Lisa Atis, who calmly stepped to the spot and sent her shot right down the middle and into the back of the net for the game-tying score that sent things into overtime.
In similar fashion to regulation, the two teams again played extremely close throughout both overtime periods, but neither could break through once again to go back in front. Both managed to string together a few different opportunities, though, with Spurrell coming up big again with four more saves across the 20 minutes and Atis and sophomore
Alisa Divano both putting shots on goal that nearly put the Islanders in the lead for the first time on the night.
With the score still knotted up at one apiece after 110 minutes of play, the match moved into a penalty shootout, where the Islanders found themselves at a deficit of 2-0 after the first few rounds. Atis got them on the board in the third round, and right after, Spurrell came up with a big save that was then followed by a score from Page to keep them alive into the fifth and final round. A&M-Corpus Christi entered this stanza needing another save and a third goal to push the shootout even further, but it would not get that far, as SFA's Logan Heausler banged her attempt just past the outstretched fingertips of Spurrell to end the comeback effort right at the finish line.
"I am so proud!" Islanders head coach
Daniel Clitnovici said. "The resilience the team has shown this season can't be coached. Their attitude never wavered, and they know who they want to become. Good things take time, and I've no doubt this team will find even more success moving forward."
When the dust settled, the Islanders were nearly dead even with the Lumberjacks in shots taken, attempting 16 and putting 10 on goal as opposed to 18 and 13 from their opponents. Individually, Atis had arguably her best performance of the season under the bright lights, scoring the lone goal from open play while also putting on immense pressure to the tune of eight shots and five on goal all by herself to blow past her previous career highs in both. Beyond her, Divano put up three shots and two on net, and a trio of defenders in juniors
Ashley Wilson,
Emmie Barton and
Dakota Merino played all 110 minutes and helped keep a normally very effective SFA offense off the board for nearly 107 of those following the early goal. In net, Spurrell also put together an incredible effort, recording a career-high 11 saves and posting a save percentage of .923.
Tuesday's match represented the last in the collegiate careers of four different Islanders: Atis, Page and seniors
Morgan Westbury and
Paige Coghill. Atis and Westbury go down as two of the best forwards in program history, with the former ranking third in goals all-time with 17 and the latter coming in one spot ahead in second with 18. Westbury also sits tied for first in total points scored with 44 and second in assists with eight, while Atis also ranks third in points with 39. As for the other two, Page managed to lead the team with four goals and 11 points in her lone season on the Island, and Coghill played in 16 total games as a defender in her three years and logged a career-high 494 minutes in 2025.
"To show up tonight and go toe to toe with one of the best teams in the conference proves that our group has grown immensely over the course of the season," Clitnovici said. "Although the result didn't go in our favor, and losing in PKs is a tough way to end the season, we will hold our heads up high. The group faced adversity this season in several different ways, and they know how far they have come. I'm very proud of them."
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