TLU Faces Concordia (TX) Friday in SCAC Tournament Semifinals

HOUSTON, Texas -- With the regular season now in the rearview mirror, the Texas Lutheran women's soccer program turns its attention towards a postseason run when the second-seeded Bulldogs square off with the third-seeded Concordia (TX) Tornados at 2:30 p.m. CT on Friday, Nov. 8 at SaberCats Stadium in Houston, Texas, in the semifinals of the 2024 SCAC Women's Soccer Tournament.

No. 2 Seed TLU (12-5-1) vs. No. 3 Seed Concordia (TX) (9-7-2)
Date: Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 – 2:30 p.m. CT 
Location: SaberCats Stadium, Houston, Texas
Broadcast: FloSports
Live Stats: Available here

TLU BEGINS SCAC TOURNAMENT PLAY FRIDAY 

No. 2 seed TLU (12-5-1) plays in its 12th straight conference tournament, facing No. 3 seed Concordia (TX) in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 8 at 2:30 PM at SaberCats Stadium in Houston. The match will be streamed live on FloSports.    

SCAC TOURNAMENT FORMAT

The top four teams in the 11-team SCAC standings qualified for the 2024 SCAC Tournament. The winners of the two opening semifinal games will face off on Sunday at 11 AM at SaberCats Stadium.

SCOUTING THE TORNADOS

Concordia is 9-7-2 overall and finished third in the SCAC with a 7-2-1 conference record. Patricia Heckendorn leads the Tornados and ranks sixth in the SCAC in scoring with seven goals and eighth with 16 points. Three other Concordia players are in double-figures in points scored - Maddie Oberholtzer (16), Kallie Krenz (13) and Emma Payne (11). Goalkeeper Lora Tresco has started 12 of the Tornados 18 matches and has a 1.04 goals against average, with three shutouts.

THE SERIES WITH CONCORDIA (TX)

TLU trails in the all-time series at 7-6-1 overall. Texas Lutheran won their last matchup on Sunday, Nov. 3, 1-0 at Gustafson Field. The Bulldogs outshot the Tornados, 16-7, in that contest.

LAST TIME OUT

Texas Lutheran defeated Concordia (TX) in their regular season finale, 1-0, to carry a five-match win streak into the SCAC Tournament. The Bulldogs were led by Callie Brame (San Antonio/Churchill) who scored the game winner in the 24th minute.

ASSIST QUEENS

Texas Lutheran has done a great job of sharing the ball so far in 2024, tallying 37 assists as a team so far in 2024 - the third most in program history. They are led in the category by Houston native, junior Klarissa Martinez (Houston/Incarnate Word Academy) who enters Friday's match just two assists shy of matching Katie Buehler's single-season assist record. She currently has nine assists, tying TLU Hall of Famer Kelli Layden and former teammate, Ana Parra, for second most in a single-season. With one more assist, Martinez would move into TLU's top ten in career assists, currently sitting at 11 in her career, tying teammate Callie Brame. Brame currently ranks third on the team with seven assists this season. Alyssa Simien (San Antonio/Warren) is in second this season with eight assists, currently ranking in a tie for sixth all-time in program history.

THE SIM-ULATION

Two-time SCAC Player of the Year Alyssa Simien leads the Bulldogs and the SCAC in points and assists for the third straight season with 13 goals and 34 points. Four of her goals this season have been game winners, ranking third in the SCAC. For her career, Simien has 40 goals and 95 points - ranking fourth all-time in TLU's history in both categories.

FROM FLORIDA WITH LOVE

Sophomore goalkeeper Alysa Marquez (Miami, FL/Dr. Michael Krop) is having one of the best seasons in-goal for the Bulldogs in recent memory - touting 12 wins and 5.5 shutouts. With the 12 wins, Marquez is only the third Bulldog to earn double-digit goalkeeper wins in a single-season joining Katie Kistner and Erin Rose and with a win on Friday would match Kistner's single-season record.

LEADER OF THE PACK

As last Sunday's match kicked off against Concordia (TX), senior Kelly Wolfe (San Antonio/Churchill) made history by becoming Texas Lutheran's all-time leader in games played and games started with her 81st career match and start on Sunday, surpassing the records previously held by Dani Matthews (2006-10) and Tara Armstrong (2013-16) respectively.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Bulldogs own a 8-10-2 (.450) overall record in the tournament with four SCAC Championship appearances (2014, 2015, 2017, 2022). Head Coach Kerwin Johnson is 0-2-1 in the SCAC Tournament in his career.

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).