2026 Conference Tournament and NCAA Selection Thread

[Kuiper]

SCAC Semifinals

FINAL:  LeTourneau 0 (7) - Concordia (TX) 0 (6)

LeTourneau wins in PKs and advances to the SCAC finals against Colorado College on Sunday in its first year in the conference.  LeTourneau used the controversial strategy of switching goalkeepers just for the shootout.  It paid off as Gamble stopped Concordi'a 7th PK to win the shootout.  That's LeTourneau's 6th game without a loss and 8th in its last 9 games.  This will be LeTourneau's 2nd time getting to the conference championship in the last 3 years, but the last time was in 2024 when it played in the ASC and lost to Hardin-Simmons 2-0 in the Finals.

FINAL:  Colorado College 2 - St. Thomas 0

These two teams have battled several times in the SCAC tournament over the last few years, the last in 2024 when St. Thomas beat CC 2-0 in the semifinals.  Colorado College got its revenge this year, breaking open a tight 0-0 affair in the second half with goals in the 67th and 77th minutes by its top two scorers - Teddy Opler and Jack Hillard.  St. Thomas also fell back into old habits, with Joshua Aguirre earning a straight red card in the 86th minute as the team battled to come back. 

That is Aguirre's 2nd red card of the season - both received in games against Colorado College - to go along with 6 yellows.  It ended a three game stretch without a card for Aguirre, which is tied for his longest cardless string of the season.  While he frequently gets cards, it seems like there is some especially bad blood between Aguirre and the Colorado College players, although it didn't affect the outcome in this match.  In the first match between the two teams, Aguirre's red card came in the 74th minute, not long after UST had scored to close the gap to 3-1 and it short-circuited any comeback as CC went on to score two more goals to win 5-1.