HARROGATE, Tenn. — The streak and journey continues.
 
Winning now its fifth straight, the No. 5-seeded Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team traveled to fourth-seeded Catawba for the South Atlantic Conference Tournament Quarterfinal and left victorious behind a 3-1 victory in Salisbury, N.C.
 
"I thought the intensity of our game was brilliant today both in-and-out of possession," LMU head coach Sean Fraser said, "and when you have someone on form like Itzel, it makes all the difference! We played some excellent soccer today and I'm proud of the team for their execution throughout the 90 minutes. We're still improving, but we'll be satisfied with that today."
 
With the win, LMU (14-4) advances to the SAC Tournament semifinals for the second straight season and will face Lenoir-Rhyne, who the Lady Railsplitters defeated earlier in the season, in Matthews, N.C., at 4:30 p.m. Friday.
 
The shots were identical across the board where both the Lady Railsplitters and Indians (11-3) had 12 apiece; however, LMU had seven on goal while Catawba had just four and it proved huge.
 
After a scoreless first half, the visiting team took the egg off the scoreboard in the 50th minute as Thenia Zervas started the three-goal performance by netting her fourth goal of the season via the foot of Jessica Cravero.
 
The 1-nil lead held true until Itzel Ballesteros broke loose. In the 64th minute, her first goal since the game winner versus Newberry Oct. 27 came when Rachel Taylor slid the ball through a slew of defenders and found the senior for her fifth assist. From there, Ballesteros put home her eighth score of the season before her ninth rolled through via Ermelinda Pantaleao's second assist at the 86th minute mark.
 
"I can't begin to explain the feeling of being able to do this for my team," Ballesteros said. "Being injured most of the season was really hard, but now it's postseason and fortunately, I'm feeling better and it's time to get the job done."
 
Catawba's Callie Hammond scored in the 88th minute, but it didn't matter as Ballesteros' pair of goals were more than enough.
 
"We played amazing as a whole," the senior forward said. "Every single player on the field played for each other today. We're only getting better and we know what's at stake. We're taking it one game at a time — now onto next week."
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for complete coverage of the LMU soccer teams through the 2019 season.