PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas – The Texas Southern Lady Tigers proved to be unwelcome visitors at Prairie View A&M's Senior Night as they defeated the Lady Panthers by a 2-0 score Friday.
 
Erica Cozart's successful penalty kick in the 67th minute proved to be the match-winner as the Lady Tigers (8-10) pulled ahead of Prairie View A&M on the Southwestern Athletic Conference table with a 6-4 league record.
 
Makayla Johnson gave Texas Southern an insurance goal when she headed in a corner kick from the foot of Yadira Gonzalez in the 75th minute.
 
The Lady Panthers (8-8-1) finished the regular season with a 5-5 SWAC record. They enter the SWAC Tournament as the No. 7 seed, while Texas Southern finishes as the No. 6 seed.
 
With Prairie View A&M missing key players to injury, the Lady Tigers were able to dictate the pace of play and kept the ball on the home half of the field for most of the match. Texas Southern outshot their hosts 28-2.
 
Senior goalkeeper Dominique Dillon made 10 saves for the Lady Panthers in 79 minutes of play. Junior reserve Thalia Limon finished the match in goal and made four saves, including a second TSU penalty kick from Alexia Ladipo in the 86th minute.
 
Prior to the match, the Lady Panthers honored their seven graduating seniors: Dillon, Kara Ballard, Khalisha Bond, Clarisa Maldonado, Breanna Powell, Arianna Rountree, and Ashley Virgil.
 
Ballard, Dillon, Powell, and Rountree are four-year letterwinners for the Lady Panthers, having been with the team since the 2012 season. Rountree played all 90 minutes Friday, and has played the entirety of five of Prairie View A&M's last six matches.
 
Bond transferred from Tyler Junior College in Tyler, Texas. Maldonado, a native of Pasadena, Texas returned to the Lone Star State to complete her collegiate career after playing junior college soccer at Harcum College in Pennsylvania.
 
Virgil was a three-year letterwinner for the Lady Panthers, joining the team in 2013. She came to Prairie View A&M as a junior in terms of academic credits after spending two years at Brazosport College in Freeport, Texas, which has no intercollegiate athletics program. Virgil will earn her master's degree in May.
 
The Lady Panthers will open SWAC Tournament play Thursday when they face No. 2 seed Jackson State at the John Hunt Soccer Complex in Huntsville, Ala. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.