Bobcats win first title since 2011, look ahead to NCAA tournament
For the first time since 2011 and since joining the Sun Belt, the Texas State soccer team sits atop its conference after a victorious run in the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
After a heartbreaking loss to James Madison in the 2024 Sun Belt Conference tournament championship match, the Bobcats finished the job this year with a 1-0 victory over the University of Louisiana–Monroe to earn the Sun Belt’s automatic qualifier bid to the NCAA tournament.
Texas State finished the season 10-3-7 after its run through the Sun Belt Conference tournament. Throughout the season, the Bobcats battled a tough slate of out-of-conference opponents, including Texas A&M, Arizona State, Baylor and nationally-ranked Oklahoma.
The Bobcats posted a 3-2-2 record in their out-of-conference slate. Notable outcomes for the squad included draws against Texas A&M and #19 Oklahoma, along with dominant performances against in-state opponents Incarnate Word and Stephen F. Austin.
Texas State began conference play with a 1-1 draw against ULM, setting into motion a string of positive results.
Head coach Steve Holeman’s squad rattled off nine straight positive results in conference play, winning or drawing every match-up until the final conference slate against James Madison, a night where Texas State played a woman down for much of the game and lost 4-2.
The result against James Madison dropped Texas State from the one-seed in the conference, all the way down to the four-spot, highlighting just how competitive the Sun Belt was all season long.
Regardless, the Bobcats entered the Sun Belt tournament as one of the favorites to hoist the trophy.
Texas State’s run in the Sun Belt tournament was as nail-biting as could be. The Bobcats kicked off tournament play with a chance for revenge against James Madison.
The rematch was hotly contested through-and-through as regulation ended with the two sides deadlocked in a 1-1 stalemate. After two 10-minute overtime periods, the score remained, sending the match to penalty kicks.
Each side buried its first four penalties in the back of the net. On JMU’s fifth attempt, Texas State goalkeeper Maude Rouanet guessed right and denied the Dukes’ attempt. Junior forward Constance Agyemang then stepped up and buried her PK, sending the Bobcats through to the semis.
Texas State drew the top-seeded South Alabama Jaguars in the semifinals. Texas State looked in control for the majority of the match, and its high level of ball control finally paid off in the 60th minute when graduate student defender Kennley Bradley knocked a header home to give the Bobcats a 1-0 lead.
As was the story many times earlier in the year, one would prove to be all the Bobcats needed, as they kept South Alabama out of the net to punch their ticket back to the finals with a 1-0 victory.
Just as the Bobcats’ conference slate began with Louisiana-Monroe, so it ended.
53 minutes passed as neither side found a way to put the ball into the net. That all changed in the 54th minute as freshman Sadie Guzman made good on her second opportunity of the match, burying a ball into the net, putting Texas State on top 1-0.
True to form, the Texas State defense held stiff and refused to concede to the Warhawks, riding the 1-0 lead all the way to a championship game victory, cementing its spot in the NCAA tournament and winning its first and only Sun Belt Conference title.
Texas State’s first-round matchup in the NCAA tournament will be a rematch against the #23-ranked Baylor Bears (12-4-4).
Baylor handed the Bobcats their second of only three losses this season in a dominant 4-1 victory back on Sept. 7 at Bobcat Soccer Complex. The Bears’ four goals are the second-most goals conceded in a single match this season by the Bobcats; however, two of Baylor’s four goals came off of own goals by Texas State.
Nullify the Bobcat mistakes, and the final score likely looks much closer.
Baylor’s run in the Big 12 tournament ended in the semifinals, but they played well enough to host a first-round matchup, as they will welcome the Bobcats to Betty Lou Mays this weekend.
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Texas State sophomore midfielder Helen Alormenu (10) jumps in the river to celebrate the first NCAA appearance since 2011, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, at Sewell Park. This is the team’s first and last Sunbelt Championship.
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Texas State soccer players Halle Garcia (left) and Annabelle Fisher (right) celebrating during the NCAA Selection show, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 at Strahan Arena.
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Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse address the women’s soccer team as the wait to hear who they will play in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 in San Marcos.
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Texas State’s women’s soccer team jumps into Sewell to celebrate winning the Sun Belt Conference, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 in San Marcos.
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Texas State soccer watching and waiting and to see who they’ll will face in the NCAA Tournament, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 at Strahan Arena.
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Texas State soccer player Victoria Meza (left) and head coach Steve Holeman (right) watching and waiting and to see who they’ll will face in the NCAA Tournament, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 at Strahan Arena.
