SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – Junior Sydney Solomon (Schertz/Randolph HS) could not have picked a better time to score her first career hat-trick as she led University of the Incarnate Word to a 3-0 win over visiting Lone Star Conference rival West Texas A&M on Saturday night at Benson Stadium.  The win moved the Cardinals (8-6, 8-4) into a tie for first place in the conference with the Lady Buffs (9-6-1, 8-4). (Box Score)

The two teams had virtually identical statistics in the game, but the speed of Solomon proved to be the difference.  Three different times she raced past the defense after through passes and each time she ran down the ball with no one between her and the goalkeeper.  She netted her first goal of the game at 17:04 off a pass from Sarah Johnson (Austin/Home School) and she buried the shot in the lower corner of the goal.  She hooked up with Johnson against at 53:52 for an identical goal into the lower right corner.  Finally, she picked up the hat-trick and put the game out of reach with her third goal of the night at 61:13 off a pass from Katie Miller (Tyler/Home School).  Solomon scored her three goals with only three shots attempted.

After missing the last two games, freshman Heather Kowalik (Boerne/Champion HS) was back in goal for the Cardinals.  She made three saves en route to picking up her fourth shutout of the season.

The Lady Buffs took one less shot than the Cardinals and only managed four shots on goal.  They earned seven corner kicks in the match, but were unable to convert on any of them.   Yvette Bedoy made five saves in goal.

The win for the Cardinals puts the two teams in a tie for first place, but the Cardinals hold the tie breaker due to a series sweep.  They have outscored the Lady Buffs, 7-1 in their two matches.

The Cardinals are back in action on Sunday at noon against Eastern New Mexico.
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