West Texas A&M's run through the NCAA Division II Women's Soccer Championships came to an end on Sunday afternoon in a 5-0 loss to #6 UC San Diego at The Pitch in the NCAA Quarterfinal. The program was making just its second appearance in the round of eight and first since 2009.
The Lady Buffs finished the season 15-4-3 where they went on a program-best 14 game unbeaten streak en route to winning the Lone Star Conference Regular Season Championship outright for the first time since 2012. Hannah Kelley-Lusk was named the LSC Player and Forward of the Year while Cheyenne Orozco was named the conference's Defensive Player of the Year. WT went on to win the program's second South Central title on penalty kicks against Dallas Baptist on Friday night after defeating UC-Colorado Springs in the Regional Semifinal on penalty kicks a week earlier.
The Tritons scored three goals in the first 25 minutes to put WT in an early hole before adding two more goals in the second half. WT had their best scoring chance in the 68th minute when Calista Cordero got on the end of Marlene van Mourik's but the sophomore's shot was cleared off the line by a UCSD defender before Emily Avila's shot was saved by Angelica Ramos.
Courtney Dippel finished the game with nine saves giving her 104 on the save making her the third Lady Buff in program history to reach the 100 save plateau in a season. She finishes her career as the program's all-time saves leader with 361, 56 more than Jamie Griffis-Roach. Emily Avila had a team-high two shots with five other players recording a shot.
-West Texas A&M University Athletics
