ABILENE, Texas- The Howard Payne University women's soccer team season has come to an end in the American Conference Tournament Semifinals after a 3-1 loss to the Hardin-Simmons University Cowgirls at the HSU Soccer Complex on Tuesday afternoon.

Graduate goalkeeper Landry Combs was called into action early when she had to make the first of her 13 saves in the fourth minute off a shot from HSU's Tatum Barnett. The Lady Jackets carried the same intensity into this match that they had in the quarterfinals win over Schreiner University.

The intensity paid off, as senior midfielder Abbie Wetzel delivered again by scoring the opening goal of the match in the eighth minute. Freshman forward and midfielder Kenzie Cameron picked her second assist of the season on the goal.

On the resulting kickoff, Hardin-Simmons was able to go down the field and find the equalizing goal. Howard Payne did a good job of seeing out the rest of the half and preventing Hardin-Simmons from taking the lead.

At the half, the Lady Jackets had two shots, while Combs had to make four saves. Hardin-Simmons made some halftime adjustments and took the lead in the 47th minute of play.

The Cowgirls scored their third goal of the match in 58th minute. Even though the Lady Jackets fell behind, they didn't let their head drop. There was two instances in the second half where Hardin-Simmons could've extended the lead even further, but HPU's back line shielded the goal and kept the score as it was. Howard Payne had three more shots in an effort to try to get back into the game and forced HSU's goalkeeper, Rebecca Hall to make one save.

The Lady Jackets advanced to the ASC Semifinals for the first time since 2023, when HPU had a 10-7-2 record. This was the last match for the 11 seniors for the Lady Jackets, which include Wetzel and Combs.