HTML Box Score | HTML Season Statistics

PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – Prairie View A&M's 11 senior soccer players made the most of their special evening Friday as the Lady Panthers defeated Southern 2-0 to highlight Senior Night festivities.

Alicia Cooper (Missouri City, Texas / Tyler Junior College) and senior Debbie Arguelles (Albuquerque, N.M. / Highland HS) scored 90 seconds apart late in the second half to give Prairie View A&M the victory.

The Lady Panthers (7-7-1) retained second place on the Southwestern Athletic Conference table with a league record of 6-1-1. Southern (4-10-2), which entered the match tied with Texas Southern for third place in the conference, fell to 4-2-2 in league play.

Senior goalkeeper Bianca Garza (Nederland, Texas / Nederland HS) posted her fourth shutout of the season. She had a relatively easy night en route to the clean sheet, as she was only asked to make three saves, none of them very difficult. The starting defensive line of Arguelles, Nahua Romo-Lara, Reina Mata, and Breanna Powell stanched any scoring chances to be had by a short-handed Southern side.

Southern – the only team in the SWAC to beat first-place Howard – saw its already small roster further limited by a injuries and a couple of players who were ineligible to play in Friday's match. The Lady Jaguars' starting 11 – including five freshmen – played the full 90 minutes.

With no reserves to call upon, the Baton Rouge side seemed content to play cautious and precise, picking their moments for a counterattack. The defensive-minded Jaguars used the offside trap to their full advantage, forcing the Lady Panthers into 16 offsides calls during the contest.

Playing for the tie worked for Southern over the first 79 minutes of the contest, as attack after attack was nullified by the offsides flag. But the Lady Panthers caught a break when Cooper broke through with a brilliant score in the 80th minute. The striker received a long header pass just past midfield, then sent a pass to Khalisha Bond at the top of the box, before Bond passed it back to Cooper near the endline for a well-placed shot past goalkeeper Sarah Forde on the narrowest of angles for her 10th goal of the season.

Cooper had her eyes on a second goal shortly after the restart when she found herself with only Forde to beat at the top of the box. Forde came out and successfully challenged the shot, but fouled Cooper in the process, giving the Lady Panthers a penalty kick. Arguelles was tabbed to take the shot, which she converted to the delight of the Prairie View A&M supporters.

Prior to the start of the match, Prairie View A&M head coach Abe Garcia honored his 11 seniors on the squad. Arguelles, Garza, Romo-Lara, Reina, Celene Batrez, Kamra Brown, Carly Detter, Melissa Kalbfleisch, Shelby Moore, Dominique Paige, and Kat Sheppard were all honored in front of the home crowd, which included many family members of the Lady Panthers, many of whom traveled a long distance to be at the match.

The Panthers had hoped to reclaim first place atop the SWAC table, but remained in the second spot after Howard scored three second-half goals to claim a come-from-behind win over Grambling State.

The Lady Panthers play their final home match of the year Sunday when they host Jackson State. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.