THE RUNDOWN
The DBU Women's Soccer Team advanced to the championship game of the Heartland Conference Tournament with a 3-1 win over Newman on Thursday in Austin. The No. 2 seed Patriots (12-5-2)  scored just 69 seconds into the game and limited No. 3 seed Newman (12-4-3), the conference's highest-scoring offense, to one goal.

Delaney Schmidt scored after a corner kick bounced around the goal box just over a minute into the game. Nearly 15 minutes later, DBU extended its lead when Ericca Everson converted a penalty kick.

Abigail Olmos added an insurance tally in the second half as she found her way past the Newman keeper and touched in an easy goal. 

THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW
 - DBU will make its eighth straight Heartland Conference Tournament Championship Game appearance. The Patriots have not missed the final round of the conference tournament since the tournament was reinstated in 2011.

 - The Patriots earned their first win over Newman this season after going 0-1-1 against the Jets in the regular season.

 - St. Edward's defeated Lubbock Christian 2-0 in Thursday's second semifinal game, setting up a DBU-St. Edward's Heartland Conference Tournament final for the seventh time in eight years.


COACH MICHELLE LENARD ON A GOOD START TO THE POSTSEASON
"We are very happy with the result today and excited for Saturday. We knew we needed a strong start, and that early goal gave us that. We brought the energy we needed to be successful, and we will need that Saturday as well."


INSIDE THE NUMBERS
8 – DBU placed eight of its 11 shot attempts on goal.

8 – Thursday marked just the eighth time in 19 matches this year that Newman scored fewer than two goals.

11 – The Patriots have scored 11 goals in their last four games.

3 - Schmidt has now scored a goal in three straight games.


UP NEXT
The Patriots will face No. 1 seed St. Edward's on Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Lewis-Chen Family Field in Austin.