East Texas A&M Lions women's soccer

The East Texas A&M Lions women's soccer team (formerly the East Texas State Lions and the Texas A&M–Commerce Lions) is the women's intercollegiate soccer program representing East Texas A&M University. The school competes in the Southland Conference (SLC) in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). For the first 27 years of existence, they competed in the Lone Star Conference of Division II. The East Texas A&M women's soccer team plays its home games at Lion Soccer Field on the university campus in Commerce, Texas. The Lions won four LSC regular season championships, three conference tournament titles, and made six appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament. The team is currently coached by Ashley Gordon.

East Texas A&M Lions women's soccer
Founded	1995; 30 years ago (1995)
University	East Texas A&M University
Head coach	Ashley Gordon (4th season)
Conference	Southland
Location	Commerce, Texas
Stadium	Lion Soccer Field (Capacity: 500)
Nickname	Lions
Colors	Blue and gold[1]
Home Away
NCAA Tournament Quarterfinals
1999
NCAA Tournament appearances
1999, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016
Conference Tournament championships
1999, 2004, 2014, 2015
Conference Regular Season championships
1999, 2003, 2008, 2014, 2016

For information on all East Texas A&M University sports, see East Texas A&M Lions

History

Women's soccer has been a varsity sport at East Texas A&M since the 1995 season, when the school was still known as Texas A&M–Commerce and competed as an independent. The Lions subsequently began play as an LSC member when the conference began officially sponsoring the sport in 1996. During the first three years of the program's existence, Mike Munch led A&M–Commerce to two winning seasons and two appearances in the LSC semifinals, albeit no NCAA tournament appearances.^[2]

The 2015 team

Since beginning conference play, the Lions have won the LSC regular season title on five occasions (in 1999, 2003, 2014, and including co-championships in 2008 and 2016) and the tournament championship four times (in 1999, 2004, 2014, and 2015).^[2][3] East Texas A&M has also eight seven postseason appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament, achieving their best result (an appearance in the Elite Eight) during their first campaign in 1999. The program has won all of its championships and made all of its NCAA postseason appearances during the tenure of Neil Piper, who served as head coach from 1998 to 2021.^[2]

The Lions in action against the Midwestern State Mustangs in 2014

After the 2021 season, Piper announced his resignation on December 9, 2021.^[4] Ashley Gordon was hired as the program's third head coach on January 4, 2022.^[5] During their first season in the Southland, the Lions went 7-8-1 during the regular season, finishing third in the conference. In the conference tournament, they defeated the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders in the quarterfinal round,^[6] then shocked the Northwestern State Lady Demons in the semifinal round,^[7] before eventually falling to the Lamar Lady Cardinals in the Southland Conference Championship game.^[8] This gave them a 9-9-2 record in their first season as a Division I school.^[9]

During Gordon's second season, the Lions became the first East Texas A&M sports program to have an overall winning record in a season as a Division I team, going 9-7-3. They clinched the second seed in the Southland Conference Tournament, but were eliminated in the first round by the Houston Christian Huskies.^[10][11]

In 2024, the Lions endured their first losing season in the Division I era, but once again qualified for the Southland Conference Tournament. They defeated the Incarnate Word Cardinals 2-1 in the quarterfinals, then took down the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders 2-1 in the semifinals, before losing to the SFA Ladyjacks 2-0 in the championship game.^[12]

All-time record

The Lions in action against the Texas Woman's Pioneers

Year	Head Coach	Overall	Pct.	Conf.	Pct.	Place	Tourn.	Postseason
1995	Mike Munch	0-2-2	.250	–	–	–	–	–
1996		9-8-2	.526	2-4-2	.375	T4th	Semifinals	–
1997		12-8	.600	6-4	.600	T2nd	Semifinals	–
1998	Neil Piper	13-6	.684	5-2	.714	T3rd	Semifinals	–
1999		16-4-1	.786	7-1-1	.833	1st	Champions	Elite Eight
2000		9-6-1	.594	3–4	.429	6th	–	–
2001		9-8-2	.526	5-2	.714	T2nd	Semifinals	–
2002		14-3-2	.789	4-3-1	.563	5th	–	–
2003		16-3-3	.795	7-1-1	.833	1st	Runners-Up	First Round
2004		15-7-1	.674	7-2	.778	2nd	Champions	First Round
2005		11-5-3	.658	5-2-2	.667	3rd	Quarterfinals	–
2006		12-8-3	.587	6-2-1	.722	T3rd	Runners-Up	–
2007		9-10-1	.475	5-4	.556	T3rd	Semifinals	–
2008		16-4-3	.761	7-1-2	.800	T1st	Runners-Up	Sweet Sixteen
2009		10-8-1	.553	5-5	.500	6th	Quarterfinals	–
2010		8-7-3	.528	4-4-3	.500	6th	Quarterfinals	–
2011		8-9-3	.475	6-6-2	.500	4th	Semifinals	–
2012		5–12	.294	4–10	.286	T7th	–	–
2013		11-6-2	.632	5-4-1	.550	3rd	Semifinals	First Round
2014		16-5-1	.750	7-3	.700	1st	Champions	Sweet Sixteen
2015		13-6-2	.667	7-1-2	.800	2nd	Champions	First round
2016		15-6-1	.705	9-3-0	.750	T1st	Runners-Up	Sweet Sixteen
2017		12-4-3	.711	8-3-1	.708	2nd	Semifinals	–
2018		9-8	.529	6-6	.500	4th	Quarterfinals	–
2019		10-8-1	.553	7-6	.538	7th	Quarterfinals	–
2020		4-3	.571	3-2	.600	4th	Semifinals	–
2021	10-8-2	.550	7-5-1	.577	7th	Semifinals	–
2022	Ashley Gordon	9-9-2	.500	7-4-1	.625	3rd	Runners-Up	–
2023		9-7-3	.553	7-1-2	.800	2nd	First Round	—
2024		9-10-3	.477	6-3-1	.650	3rd	Runners-Up	—

Year-by-year results through the end of the 2024 season^[2][3]

Stadium

Lion Soccer Field

Lion Soccer Field as it appeared during the 2014 season
Location	On Hubbell Dr and Culver St Commerce, Texas
Coordinates	33°14′17.9″N 95°54′57.8″W
Owner	East Texas A&M University
Operator	East Texas A&M University
Seating type	bleacher bench
Capacity	500
Field size	115 X 72 yards
Surface	grass
Scoreboard	electronic, digital
Construction
Built	2009
Opened	September 24, 1999
Tenants
East Texas A&M University (NCAA)

Lion Soccer Field has been the home of the East Texas A&M Lions women's soccer team since 1999. The stadium seats 500 spectators with bleacher seating and has a playing surface that measures 115 yards (105 m) by 72 yards (66 m). Prior to its construction, the land on which it was built had been occupied by a botanical nursery and tennis courts.^[13]

Improvements

At the time it hosted its first game, on September 24, 1999, the venue consisted of little more than a Bermuda grass field, a scoreboard donated by a local business, and a chain-link fence around the perimeter. Over the next decade and a half, Lion Soccer Field benefited from numerous upgrades, including the addition of floodlights to enable the playing of night games (2009), a press box (2011), a permanent black metal fence to replace the chain-link fence (2013), and a new scoreboard (2014).

Post season play

In 2014, the stadium hosted both the Lone Star Conference Tournament as well as two opening-round games in the South Central Region of the NCAA Division II Tournament.^[13]

High attendance

Below is the Lions' yearly high home attendance at the Lion Soccer Field since 2010.

Season	High
Yearly Home Attendance
2022[14]	711
2021[14]	257
2020[14]	217*
2019[14]	412
2018[14]	605
2017[14]	337
2016[14]	630
2015[14]	306
2014[14]	537
2013[14]	431
2012[14]	448
2011[14]	212
2010[14]	221

• Stadium capacity limited due to COVID19 precautions