Ladyjacks Set To Open SLC Tournament Play
11/8/2007 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Nov. 8, 2007
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks begin play in the Southland Conference tour-nament after wrapping up the program's fifth regular-season conference championship. SFA finished the season tied with McNeese State for the top spot in the league with a 7-1-1 record. The Cowgirls earned the tour-nament's No. 1 seed by virtue of their tiebreaker edge over SFA, so the Ladyjacks will enter the tournament as the No. 2 team. As such, SFA draws a first-round bye and will play Friday night at 7 p.m. against No. 3 Texas-San Antonio. The Roadrunners defeated Sam Houston State, 1-0, Thursday evening in the tournament's first game. SFA posted the best overall record in the conference this year at 11-4-2. That marks the fourth time in the last five seasons for the Ladyjacks to collect at least 10 wins.
Last Week: SFA edged out a 2-1 double-overtime win against Southeast-ern Louisiana on Friday then left no doubt Sunday, as the Ladyjacks locked up a share of the SLC title with a 7-0 pasting of Nicholls State. Sophomore forward Erika Palmacci had four goals on the weekend, scoring one against the Lions then putting up her first career hat trick with a trio of goals against the Colonels. Junior midfielder Lauren Fricks scored twice against Nicholls and moved into second place on the SFA career assists ledger by lending a hand in a third goal Sunday.
Tournament Field: No. 1 McNeese State enters the tournament with an overall record of 11-4-4 and an SLC mark of 7-1-1. Texas-San Antonio (8-8-2, 6-2-1) comes in as the No. 3 seed, while Northwestern State (11-6-2, 4-3-2) is the fourth seed. No. 5 Southeastern Louisiana brings a 9-6-3 overall mark and a 4-4-1 SLC record to the tournament, and Sam Houston State (6-10-0, 4-5-0) will play as the No. 6 seed.
SFA in the SLC Tournament: The Ladyjacks have appeared in eight Southland Conference Tournaments all-time and sport a 3-7 overall re-cord in SLC postseason play. SFA has entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed four times but doesn't have much to show for it. The Ladyjacks' lone win as the top seed was a 3-0 victory over No. 4 McNeese State in the 1998 semifinals. However, the only other time SFA came in as the No. 2 seed -- 2003 -- the Ladyjacks defeated No. 3 Texas State, 2-0, in the semis, then took a 2-0 win over No. 1 Southeastern Louisiana in the cham-pionship game to earn the SLC automatic bid to the NCAA Championships. That year's conference tournament took place in Natchitoches, La.
Next Week: If the Ladyjacks can put together a pair of wins in the SLC Tournament, SFA will earn a bid to the NCAA Championships, which start on Friday, Nov. 16. The selection show for the tournament bracket is sched-uled for Monday at 7 p.m. and will be aired on ESPNEWS.
-- SFA --
