Shreveport – The No. 4 seed Centenary women's soccer team saw its season come to a disappointing end on Saturday as the Ladies fell 1-0 to the No. 5 seed Texas Lutheran Bulldogs in the quarterfinals of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship at Mayo Field.
The Ladies finish the season at 8-4 overall and 4-3 in SCAC play. Texas Lutheran improved to 4-5-1 overall and will face No. 1 seed Trinity in next weekend's semifinals in Seguin, Texas. The Bulldogs returned the favor after the Ladies claimed a 2-0 victory on March 27 in Seguin during the regular season.
The Ladies posted another superb season as they set a division III era (2011-present) single-season record for shutouts in a season with seven and finished the regular season allowing just five goals and outscoring their opponents, 20-5.
Centenary is 24-7 in its last 31 matches over the last two seasons, 10-6 in its last 16 conference matches, and finished the season 5-3 at home and the Maroon and White are 13-4 at Mayo Field over the last two seasons.
Junior goalkeeper Avery Sanderson (McKinney, Texas) started in goal for Ladies' starter Maggie Pitcher (San Antonio, Texas) who was unable to play. Sanderson protected the net well overall, especially in the first half as she made several clutch saves and wound up with six for the match. She was making her first start in to season and filled in admirably for the likely all-conference Pitcher.
The match was scoreless until the 83rd minute when Raquel Morris found the net off an assist from Samantha Martinez for a 1-0 TLU lead. The Bulldogs wound up with a slight edge in shots, 14-12, for the match and had three corner kicks to four for the Ladies. Bulldogs GK Elena Rivera picked up the win as she played all 90 minutes and made three saves.
Pitcher, one of the top goalkeepers in the conference and country this season and one of the most decorated players in the division III era in program history finished the season first in the conference in shutouts (6), second in both goals against average (0.35) and save percentage (.922). She also ranked third in saves (47) and sixth in saves per game (4.27).
Junior MF Gabby McDonald (Pasadena, Texas) finished the season ranked fifth in the league in goal (3), points (20), tied for fourth in assists (2), and tied for third in shots (33). Sophomore forward Sydney Bascomb (Mesquite, Texas) had two game-winning goals this season which ranks second in the conference, she was tied for fourth in assists with two, and tied for sixth in goals with three. Fellow sophomore Avery Gilbert (League City, Texas) is also tied for fourth in assists (2) and tied for sixth in goals (3) and points (8).
Senior MF Pamela Fonseca (Houston, Texas) and sophomore MF Celeste Muniz (Denton, Texas) tied for eighth in the conference in goals with two each and Fonseca also tied for second in game-winning goals as both of her scores this season were GW's for the Ladies this season. Eleven different players have scored goals for the Ladies this season, five players have scored at least two or more goals, and five freshmen have found the net. Centenary finished the regular season ranked second in the league in assists, goals, points, and shots.
A link to the Ladies' complete schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/wsoc/2020-21/schedule
Live stats and live video are available for all home matches.
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