SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Southeastern Louisiana freshman Megan Zahnow broke a 1-1 tie with a goal in the 77^th minute to help the Lady Lions earn their first Southland Conference victory of the season, 2-1, over UTSA Sunday afternoon at the UTSA Rec Sports Complex.

 

Southeastern (7-4-1, 1-3 SLC) broke through after dropping its first three league contests – all by 1-0 margins. The Lady Lions have won all three meetings all-time with UTSA (5-9, 2-2 SLC).

 

“We're very pleased that we were able to end the scoring drought and earn a very important league victory,” Southeastern head coach Blake Hornbuckle said. “We've now put ourselves in the position to get back in the race with two home matches next weekend.

 

“The play of Megan Zahnow was excellent up top and she did a great job finishing on the game-winning goal,” Hornbuckle added. “The play of the entire back line – Shalayne Heffner, Kyle MacIntosh, Brittany Prieto and Nicole Brannigan – was extremely solid. In the midfield, Natalie Santana and Brittany Flores did a nice job in helping us control the flow of play.”

 

Zahnow's goal was her second of the season. Santana played a ball to Zahnow, which the UTSA defense misplayed, drawing Roadrunner goalkeeper Nicoline Joergensen out of goal. Zahnow flipped the ball over Joergensen for the first game-winning goal of her Southeastern career.

 

Southeastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute of the match. Senior Janae Sheldon hit a perfect corner kick that was settled by Santana, who netted her second goal of the season to give the Lady Lions a 1-0 edge.

 

“Natalie showed a lot of composure on that goal and Janae played a great ball,” Hornbuckle commented. “We've had so much trouble finding the net as of late, so when we ended the drought there was some genuine excitement and emotion from our team.”

 

The Lady Lions went into halftime with the lead intact, but UTSA increased the pressure after the break. In the 65^th minute, Halee Hamm hit a shot at Southeastern goalkeeper Lacey Bockhaus, who misplayed it, allowing the Roadrunners to even the score. Bockhaus, a native of San Leandro, Calif., was mistake-free besides that one miscue, and finished with a career-high eight saves.

 

A little more than 10 minutes later, Zahnow answered, giving Southeastern the victory.

 

The Lady Lions return home for its final two home matches of the season next weekend. On Friday, Southeastern welcomes Central Arkansas for a 4:30 p.m. contest. Northwestern State comes to town on Sunday for a 1 p.m. match. Senior Day festivities will begin approximately 15 minutes before the 1 p.m. start, as Heffner, Sheldon, Kristin McDonald, Jehan Ayap and Sarah Cheung will be honored prior to their final home match in a Southeastern uniform.

 

SLU – 1 1 – 2 (7-4-1, 1-3 SLC)

UTSA – 0 1 – 1 (5-9, 2-2 SLC)

 

Scoring Summary

4:44 – SLU – Natalie Santana (2) – Assist: Janae Sheldon

64:24 – UTSA – Halee Hamm (3) – Assist: Veronica Najera, Laurel Dierking

76:31 – SLU – Megan Zahnow (2) – Assist: Natalie Santana

 

Shots – UTSA 19, Southeastern Louisiana 8

Saves – Southeastern Louisiana 8, UTSA 3

Corner Kicks – Southeastern Louisiana 4, UTSA 3

Fouls – UTSA 15, Southeastern Louisiana 11

Offsides – UTSA 2, Southeastern Louisiana 0