THE LEAD
The Dallas Baptist University Women's Soccer team defeated Lubbock Christian University, 3-0, in the Heartland Conference Semifinal on Thursday at Lewis-Chen Family Field in Austin, Texas. The Patriots advance to Saturday's Heartland Conference Championship and await the winner of St. Edward's and St. Mary's. 

Leah Draper opened the scoring for DBU in the 33rd minute, as she collected a loose ball in the box and tapped it past All-Heartland Conference goalkeeper Sarah Palmer. After a 30-minute lightning delay in the 71st minute, Katelyn Havard doubled the Patriots' lead, receiving a through ball from Geneva Martinez and beating Palmer on a one-on-one.

Martinez picked up her second assist of the match six minutes later, booting a corner kick to the top of the box to Emmy Niece, who scored from 25 yards out to put the game out of reach for the Chapparals. 

The DBU defense, led by All-Conference honorees Mackenzie Rice and goalkeeper Hope Koym, held strong through the match to post the team's ninth shutout of the season. Koym made two saves, and Rice made a number of excellent defensive stops.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - The Patriots advance to the Heartland Conference Championship for the sixth straight season.
 - DBU extends their winning streak to four games.
 - Katelyn Havard is just the second Patriot to score in back-to-back matches this season.

COACH MICHELLE LENARD - ON PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
"We have had our fair share of adversity this season, and our main focus has been to push through it and learn from it. We knew if we looked at the challenges we were having early on as opportunities to improve that it would pay off at the end of the season. This team has battled and grown and, as a result, we are picking up speed as we move into the playoffs."

REBECCA KERNEN - ON OFFENSIVE SUCCESS AFTER THE WEATHER DELAY
"We were winning 50/50 balls and we were all over them. One thing that we really strive to do is press deep in their half as a team. They had some loose balls, and we capitalized on them and got awesome shots and awesome goals."

LENARD - ON GENEVA MARTINEZ'S ABILITY TO SET UP GOALS
"Geneva is a very savvy soccer player. It was just a matter of time before her contributions started to show up on the stat sheet. She is a very good play-maker and creates lots of good opportunities for us. We are finally starting to finish those chances.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS
2 - Thursday's win marks Geneva Martinez's second multi-assist game of the year.
1 - Hope Koym has allowed just one goal in the team's four-game winning streak.
11 - DBU was caught offsides 11 times in the match.

UP NEXT
The Patriots will face the winner of the second semifinal between St. Edward's and St. Mary's in the Heartland Conference Championship Game at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday at Lewis-Chen Family Field in Austin, Texas.