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

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.

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). 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.

After the 2021 season, Piper announced his resignation on December 9, 2021. Ashley Gordon was hired as the program's third head coach on January 4, 2022. 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, then shocked the Northwestern State Lady Demons in the semifinal round, before eventually falling to the Lamar Lady Cardinals in the Southland Conference Championship game. This gave them a 9-9-2 record in their first season as a Division I school.

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.

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.

The 2025 season saw the Lions endure another losing season, but they finished fourth in the Southland Conference standings. In the conference tournament, they were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Houston Christian.

All-time record

Year Head coach Overall Pct. Conf. Pct. Place Tourn. Postseason 1995 Mike Munch 0-2-2 – – – – – 1996 9-8-2 2-4-2 T4th Semifinals – 1997 12-8 6-4 T2nd Semifinals – 1998 Neil Piper 13-6 5-2 T3rd Semifinals – 1999 16-4-1 7-1-1 1st Champions Elite Eight 2000 9-6-1 3–4 6th – – 2001 9-8-2 5-2 T2nd Semifinals – 2002 14-3-2 4-3-1 5th – – 2003 16-3-3 7-1-1 1st Runners-Up First Round 2004 15-7-1 7-2 2nd Champions First Round 2005 11-5-3 5-2-2 3rd Quarterfinals – 2006 12-8-3 6-2-1 T3rd Runners-Up – 2007 9-10-1 5-4 T3rd Semifinals – 2008 16-4-3 7-1-2 T1st Runners-Up Sweet Sixteen 2009 10-8-1 5-5 6th Quarterfinals – 2010 8-7-3 4-4-3 6th Quarterfinals – 2011 8-9-3 6-6-2 4th Semifinals – 2012 5–12 4–10 T7th – – 2013 11-6-2 5-4-1 3rd Semifinals First Round 2014 16-5-1 7-3 1st Champions Sweet Sixteen 2015 13-6-2 7-1-2 2nd Champions First round 2016 15-6-1 9-3-0 T1st Runners-Up Sweet Sixteen 2017 12-4-3 8-3-1 2nd Semifinals – 2018 9-8 6-6 4th Quarterfinals – 2019 10-8-1 7-6 7th Quarterfinals – 2020 4-3 3-2 4th Semifinals – 2021 10-8-2 7-5-1 7th Semifinals – 2022 Ashley Gordon 9-9-2 7-4-1 3rd Runners-Up – 2023 9-7-3 7-1-2 2nd First Round — 2024 9-10-3 6-3-1 3rd Runners-Up — 2025 7-8-4 4-2-4 4th Quarterfinals —

Year-by-year results through the end of the 2025 season

Stadium

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 by . Prior to its construction, the land on which it was built had been occupied by a botanical nursery and tennis courts.

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.

High attendance

Below is the Lions' yearly high home attendance at the Lion Soccer Field since 2010. Season HighYearly Home Attendance 2022 711 2021 257 2020 217* 2019 412 2018 605 2017 337 2016 630 2015 306 2014 537 2013 431 2012 448 2011 212 2010 221 Stadium capacity limited due to COVID19 precautions

References

External links