Box Score

HAMMOND – First-half goals by freshman Maiya Cooper and junior Natalie Santana allowed the Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team to open Southland Conference play with a 2-1 victory over Nicholls Sunday afternoon at a sloppy Southeastern Soccer Complex.

The victory was the fourth in a row for the Lady Lions (7-3, 1-0 SLC) and their first of the season that was not a shutout. Nicholls fell to 4-8 overall and 0-1 in league action with the loss.

Southeastern head coach Blake Hornbuckle was pleased with his team's effort in the adverse conditions, as the majority of the match was played in a driving rain, rendering the playing surface a soggy mess.

“We were very proud of our team for battling through the inclement weather conditions and picking up a nice victory to open conference play,” Hornbuckle commented. “We were not pleased with the goal we allowed on the free kick and we felt we missed some scoring opportunities that would've really opened the match up. But, overall we felt the effort was superb, especially considering the conditions.

“Individually, Maiya continues to be excellent up top and Natalie continues to be a tremendous force in the midfield,” Hornbuckle added. “Brittany Prieto was a stabilizing force in the back and we felt our backs, as well as (sophomore goalkeeper) Lacey Bockhaus did an outstanding job dealing with the conditions.”

Southeastern jumped out to a 1-0 lead 15 minutes in the match. Santana got free deep in Nicholls' end of the field and played a perfect cross to Cooper, who hit a shot in from close range past Colonel goalkeeper Molly Mersereau and recorded her team-high ninth goal of the season. The assist was the team-high ninth of the year for Santana, who with 19 career assists moves into a tie for second in school history with former Lady Lion Jen Mongiardi.

Perfect execution led Southeastern to its next goal and a 2-0 halftime lead. Senior Jenna Oney played a nice ball deep in the Nicholls' box. Freshman Karly Dagys leaped and flicked the ball with her head to an open Santana, who finished an easy score to double the Southeastern advantage.

The goal was the seventh of the season and 16th career score for Santana, moving her into a tie for ninth of the school's career list with former Lady Lion Kristin McDonald. With 51 career points, the Cypress, Calif. native is also tied with former Lady Lion Cory Cochrane for seventh on the school's career scoring list.

Nicholls would not go away quietly, however, as a Southeastern foul deep in their own territory led to a Colonel score. In the 70th minute, Jasmine Elsayed tapped her free kick to Sam Etherington, who drilled a ball deep in the Southeastern box that Keisha Brown was able to run down and send past Bockhaus to cut the Lady Lion lead to 2-1.

With the rain picking up and the field conditions worsening, the final 20 minutes saw Southeastern thwart a couple of mild Nicholls rallies, but keep the ball on the Nicholls half for the majority of the time to preserve the victory.

Southeastern will hit the road in its next action, facing Sam Houston State on Friday at 7 p.m. in Huntsville, Texas.