When the University of Incarnate Word women’s soccer team arrived at Benson Stadium on Friday evening, it knew it was the final home contest for seven seniors.

The task, beyond the usual pomp and circumstance, was to make sure that the game wasn’t the last one of consequence. It wasn’t.

Behind two late goals and a solid defensive effort, including a potential season-saving stop in the waning moments by freshman goalkeeper Erica Defferding, Incarnate Word blanked McNeese State 2-0 in Southland Conference action.

The Cardinals (6-7-1, 3-5) moved into a three-way tie with Houston Christian (5-9, 3-5) and Northwestern State (5-10, 3-5) for sixth place in the SLC. The top seven teams advance to the league’s postseason tournament. Houston Christian and Northwestern State face off on Sunday and UIW closes the regular season vs. Houston Christian. The Cardinals play Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday.

“The nerves always come before a game, but today they were extra,” senior forward Sierra Wannamaker said. “We had to win this game to continue our momentum and to go into the conference tournament. I think today our mindset was on this game, and it showed in the result.”

Scoreless with 15 minutes left, and in a must-win scenario, Incarnate Word got the break it needed. Senior midfielder Bailey Moyer was fouled inside the penalty area by McNeese State’s Alexi Pitt, resulting in a penalty kick.

“Honestly, every game, every minute I can, both sides of that ball, I’m going to win for everybody on that field with every breath I have,” Moyer said. “At the end of the day, it’s who wants it more. I will fight my hardest to get there.”

Sinead Duffy converted the PK with a left-footed shot inside the left post and out of the reach of McNeese State goalkeeper Briana O’Dell. It was Duffy’s first goal on a penalty kick in college.

“I was thinking about the team the most, what we needed, and it kind of kept my cool that way,” Duffy said. “This week we trained our hardest, knowing what was at stake. We knew what we had to do.”

McNeese State (7-6-3, 4-2-2) mounted pressure in a bid for a tying goal and was nearly rewarded for that effort. Magalie Depot got a step behind the Incarnate Word defense, but Defferding came off her line to make a stop. It was one of the few scoring chances that McNeese State garnered against Incarnate Word’s back line of Ellie Mai Sanford, Eve Clarkson, Payton Adams and Taylor Kish.

Two minutes after Depot’s scoring opportunity, Wannamaker ran onto a pass from Addison Rodriguez near the left corner flag, made a sliding tackle to get the ball away from McNeese State defender Karissa Illingworth, then dribbled into the penalty area and deposited a shot into the right-side netting with 1:14 remaining.

“It was very stressful, but I have confidence in our keeper and I have confidence in our back line,” Wannamaker said of the late-game dramatics. “I was like, ‘OK, this is where we need to get one more goal.’ “

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