HAMMOND – The defending Southland Conference regular season champion Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team will open the 2011 season this week when it hosts a pair of non-conference foes at the Southeastern Soccer Complex.
The Lady Lions host Alcorn State on Friday at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday, Southeastern welcomes Alabama State for a 1 p.m. match.
Picked to finish first by the league SID's and second by the coaches in the Southland preseason polls, the Lady Lions return 17 letter winners and eight starters from last season's team. On the way to the program's fifth regular season title in school history, Southeastern finished with a 15-3-3 overall record and tied a school record for victories in a season.
Southeastern returns 10 of the 12 student-athletes who accounted for the team's 44 goals. The top returning goal scorer is junior
Maiya Cooper, a two-time first team All-Southland selection who led the Lady Lions with 11 goals a season ago.
Southeastern also returns two of its top distributors in juniors
Karly Dagys and
Kerry McWhirter. Dagys led the Southland with nine assists to go with her six goals in 2010, while McWhirter dished out eight assists. She and junior
Lauren Stillians, an honorable mention All-Southland selection last season, return to lead the Lady Lions in the midfield.
A pair of 2010 All-Southland performers – senior
Kyle MacIntosh and sophomore
Shanyce Shaw – return to lead the Southeastern backfield. The Lady Lions allowed 14 goals a season ago, marking the fifth consecutive year that Southeastern led the Southland Conference in fewest goals allowed.
Cooper will look to continue climbing up the Southeastern scoring ranks, as she heads into her junior campaign among the school's career leaders in goals (25, 6th) and points (58, 8th). She and Dagys are tied for sixth in school history with six game-winning goals. Dagys, who sits 10th in school history with 117 career shots, needs two assists, five goals and six points to crack the Southeastern career top 10 in each of those categories.
Southeastern is 11-5 all-time in season openers heading into Friday's match. The Lady Lions have opened the last five seasons with victories.
Alcorn State finished 1-13 in 2010 and will also be opening the 2011 campaign on Friday. Senior forward Kayla Power is the top returning scorer with two goals as a junior. Sophomore Ashley Murray is the team's most experienced goalkeeper, after posting a 4.42 goals against average last season.
Southeastern is 3-0 all-time versus Alcorn State. The last meeting came in 2009 with Southeastern earning a 10-0 victory. That match saw the Lady Lions set a school record with 12 assists and Cooper record her first career hat trick.
Alabama State, which hosts Troy on Friday, finished 6-13 overall in 2010. Junior midfielder Lenna Lamas leads the offense after scoring four goals a season ago. Junior Maressa Gordon steps in at goalkeeper after playing 93 scoreless minutes in 2010.
Southeastern has won all three previous meetings with the Lady Hornets. Last season, McWhirter scored a goal and dished out three assists in a 5-0 road victory over Alabama State.
Following this weekend's action, Southeastern will play its next four matches on the road. The road swing starts on Friday, Aug. 26, when the Lady Lions travel to face Louisiana-Lafayette at 7 p.m.
