For the first time in the four-year history of the college's women's soccer program, the Cardinals have garnered the national spotlight. And it shines as bright as the draped-in-red lights of the Ethel May & Frank Johns Tower on campus.

In what has become a season of "firsts," the Cardinals recorded their first-ever win against a nationally-ranked opponent Friday afternoon at The Pit, taking down No. 5 Tyler Junior College for a 2-1 Region XIV Conference win.

The Cardinals, now 9-2 on the season and 8-2 in conference, will have the eyes of the NJCAA world on them again this week. Tuesday, No. 1 and unbeaten Navarro College visits The Pit for a 4 p.m. start. Navarro is 11-0-1 overall and 7-0 in conference.

But back to Friday.

The temperature soared into the 90s for the match. Like two heavyweight boxers in a 15-round match, the two teams measured each other's intent at a slow pace deep into the first half. There were few shots-on-goal.

Then, at the 10:10 mark, Angelina Saade gave a sizeable Cardinal crowd reason to celebrate. The 5-10 freshman from Lebanon gave the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage with a shot that found its way past Tyler goalkeeper Saki Tsuchiya.

That's where the score stood at the half.

With a quickened pace in the final 45 minutes after the intermission, the Cardinals gave their fans more reason to believe the upset was possible, when Natalia Castaneda powered in another goal for a 2-0 lead. The score was set up by an inspiring, all-out effort by Jenny Ngankem to get the ball to the offensive end in one-on-one fashion down the left sideline.

Tyler finally got on the scoreboard just over three minutes later on a goal by Meike Zijderlaan, cutting the Cardinal lead to 2-1 with 14:11 left.

Cardinal goalkeeper Jamie Noriega would allow nothing else. She made a save on Tyler's last-gasp attempt with 1:25 to go. The upset was complete.

The Cardinals finished with nine shots-on-goal. Tyler had 12.

Tyler, which owned a 4-2 against the Cardinals in the first meeting, dropped to 11-3 on the season and 6-2 in conference.

Tuesday's match against Navarro is the last home match of the regular season. Their final outing is Friday at Northeast Texas Community College.