ABILENE, Texas -The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's soccer team won the 2026 American Southwest Conference Championship with a 4-3 victory in shootouts Saturday night in Abilene.
Regulation-play went scoreless with neither team scoring in 110 minutes of action. UMHB took 14 shots in the contest, putting four total shots on frame. The regulation-tie sent the contest into shootouts to determine the conference champion.
Sam Boettiger made the first PK, followed by a successful attempt from the Cowgirls. The Cru missed its second attempt before
Leila Cunningham converted hers, giving UMHB two. Bailee Smith netted the Cru's fourth attempt and a miss by Hardin-Simmons evened the count at three converted penalty kicks each.
Gracie Ruthven scored on the Cru's fifth attempt before HSU hit the crossbar, sealing the championship for the Cru.
UMHB won the program's second American Southwest Conference Championship and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament.
Allie Angell (MVP),
Aubrey Tipton,
Gracie Ruthven and
Kaitlynn Neill were all named to the ASC All-Tournament team. UMHB will learn its NCAA Postseason fate on Monday, November 9
th in the NCAA Selection show at 10:30 a.m. (CT).
