The University of St. Thomas women's soccer team finished 2018 regular season campaign undefeated and was crowned Red River Athletic Conference (RRAC) Women's Soccer Champion – their first one ever regular season title. This also gave them #1 seed for the RRAC Tournament to be played this week on the campus of Texas A&M University in Texarkana, TX. Being top seed also earned the Celts a bye in the first round as they qualify directly to the final 4.
Celts are set to face off with #4 seed LSU–Alexandria who defeated #5 seed UH-Victoria on Saturday after double overtime and seven rounds of penalty kicks. Semifinal match between the Celts and LSUA Generals is set for Thursday, November 8th at 11 am. This will be the seventh overall matchup for the two teams over the past five years with Celts holding a 5-1 advantage over the Generals.
Coming off the best season in school history in 2017 – as the team won their first RRAC Tournament Championship and qualified to the NAIA National Tournament, expectations were high. Along with the bar set high, Celts were served with a side of caution as they said farewell to a huge senior class, featuring star players that were a lifeline for the team since the inaugural season in 2014.
"What a ride we had in our first four years of the program, and it was so fulfilling as it culminated in RRAC Tournament Championship and our first National Tournament appearance last season," said Coach Nikola Barjaktarvic. "We still had a great group of players returning, very talented recruiting class, we had a plan and a vision but honestly we were not sure where will the road take us. Our team just focused on one game at a time and worked hard on getting better every day. I couldn't be more proud of this group for coming together and winning the regular season championship, but we have to shift our focus to the conference tournament. We have an adamant opponent in LSU-Alexandria, a team that has won regular season championship last year, a team that is very organized defensively and has a lot of experience. This is the championship game for us, and we are ready to work it."
Women's soccer finished the regular season with a 12-2-1 overall record (10-0-1 in RRAC) and had already set the record for most goals scored in the season (53). Click here for team career stats. Celts are the only women's soccer college team from Houston still competing in the postseason. This year they have been consistently receiving votes in 2018 NAIA Women's Soccer Coaches' Top 25 Poll – and are currently at #30 in NAIA. For the complete NAIA Rankings calendar click here.
For more info on Raising Canes 2018 RRAC Women's Soccer Tournament Championship click here.
