The DU women’s soccer team returned from Texas without the Sun Belt Conference regular season title after falling 1-0 to North Texas.

 With the loss, the team clinched the No. 3 seed in the conference tournament.

The Pioneers allowed an early goal from a free kick from Texas’ defensive half, and after landing in the six-yard box, it bounced over junior goalkeeper Lara Campbell’s head into the net.

“We made one mistake early, and they made us pay,” said head coach Jeff Hooker. “I thought that we played well in the first half, but the final pass just wasn’t there. They got a little more defensive at halftime, and we just weren’t the same team from an attacking standpoint.”

After Friday’s loss, North Texas secured the Sun Belt Conference regular season title – its first since 2005.

“We just have to look ahead to the conference tournament next week and outlast the other seven teams,” said Hooker. 

The Pioneers are preparing for next week’s tournament and are looking internally to find success, according to Hooker.

“We are going to figure out what line-up we are going to go with,” said Hooker. “We are going to look at game film and look at the effectiveness of our players from the last five or six games.”

The Pioneers will go into next week’s tournament as the third seed, behind North Texas and Florida International. They will take on No. 6-seeded South Alabama in the first round on Wednesday at noon in Murfreesboro, Tenn. at 1 p.m.

“I expect that we will fight until the end [of the tournament], which we didn’t do in the second half [Friday],” said Hooker.