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photo courtesy of Rick Yeatts

We Are The Champions, Again.

Courtesy: University of North Texas

Release: 10/26/2012

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DENTON, Texas - The Mean Green soccer team won its second consecutive Sun Belt Conference Championship and fifth all time as Western Kentucky tied Middle Tennessee 1-1 tonight in Murfreesboro, Tenn.

This is the seventh championship in North Texas soccer history, comprising of five regular season titles and two conference tournament championships.

With the tie, Middle Tennessee reached 25 points in the final Sun Belt Conference standings putting them even with North Texas and FIU. Due to tiebreaking rules, the Mean Green wins the three-way draw and will be the number one seed in the conference tournament.

North Texas will face eighth-seeded Florida Atlantic on Wednesday, Oct. 31 at 10 a.m. in Mobile. Ala.

"When you lose only one game in conference play, you deserve to win the title and have the number one seed," said head coach John Hedlund. "Believe me, winning championships never gets old. They are all special."

Officially, and in accordance with Sun Belt rules, the three teams are declared tri-champions of the conference for the regular season.

The 2012 season proved to be a phenomonal year for the Mean Green soccer program. Coach Hedlund led his young unit to a 13-4-2 overall record that included games against ranked (at the time) teams such as Oklahoma State (7) and Long Beach State (16).

NT soccer's conference record was a nearly flawless 8-1-1 mark. The conference run included a benchmark victory in Denton over MTSU.

Senior forward Michelle Young was the catalyst for a potent North Texas offense throughout the season. She ranked first in the Sun Belt in shots and tied for second in goals coming into the final weekend.

Sophomore goalkeeper Jackie Kerestine led the Sun Belt coming into the weekend in GAA in conference play at .86 and recorded 58 saves.

As a unit, NT soccer ranked first in goals (26), shots (195) and corner kicks (64) in the conference.

The Sun Belt Conference Tournament will being on Oct. 31 in Mobile, Ala., with the Mean Green positioned as the number one seed to begin the tournament.