COMMERCE, Texas — Houston Christian University, the number two seed in the 2026 Southland Conference Tournament, opened up their title defense with a nail-biting shootout victory over East Texas A&M Tuesday night to advance to the semifinals. Lina Backhaus delivered the game-winning shootout goal on the Huskies’ sixth attempt, securing a 5-4 shootout win in what was a 1-1 result.

East Texas A&M had Houston Christian on its heels early, scoring off a corner in the 5^th minute to take a 1-0 lead. Addisen Ramirez sent a high, looping ball into the box where it found Kristen Sueltz’s head. Sueltz, jockeying for position, leapt above the HCU defense and headed the ball on frame. A HCU defender was on the goal line and tried to head it away, but the shot was too deep on net for her to get it out of harm’s way, leading to Sueltz’s sixth goal of the year.

Houston Christian tried to turn up the pressure, but East Texas A&M was step for step with the defending champs, outshooting the Huskies 5-4 in the first half, helping the Lions hold their 1-0 lead into the halftime break.

The intermission came at a key time for HCU, however, as they went into attack mode looking for the equalizer. In total, the Huskies took 11 shots in the second half, with three of them on frame, one of which did tie the score in the 68^th minute.

Playing off a throw-in in the attacking third, Madison Stormberg sent a ball from the end line to the middle of the box towards Isabella Dillow. Dillow, unable to gather the ball herself, deflected it back to a streaking Isabella Alamo, who ripped a shot towards the center of the net. The ball caromed off a Lion defender and went the opposite way of goalkeeper Emmy Finlinson, bringing the score to 1-1.

The game would go to extra time looking for a winner. Each side had their chances in the overtime periods, but after 110 minutes of play, the score remained 1-1 and the match would then be determined via shootout.

East Texas A&M missed their first shot before making their next four. Houston Christian on the other hand, opened up their shootout with four straight makes before Stormberg stepped up with a chance to send her team to the semifinals. Stormberg missed, giving East Texas A&M new life, but another miss, this one by Sueltz, opened the door again for the Huskies. Backhaus calmly buried the shot to win the game for HCU, extending their unbeaten streak to 15 matches and keeping their pursuit of back-to-back titles alive.

Houston Christian will take on third-seeded Northwestern State on Thursday, November 12th with the match set for 7 p.m. CT.