Box Score Box Score
HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana junior
Megan Miller netted two goals to help the Lady Lion women's soccer team to a convincing 4-0 non-conference victory over Alabama State Sunday afternoon at the Southeastern Soccer Complex.
Southeastern opened the season 2-0 for the second straight year and the third time in the past five seasons. Alabama State dropped to 0-2 on the year with the loss.
Miller was one of three Lady Lions to find the back of the net in the match. Juniors
Kerry McWhirter and
Maiya Cooper both scored their first goals of the season on Sunday.
Junior
Lauren Stillians was again a consistent ball winner in the central midfield for the Lady Lions, finishing with two assists to push her season total to five. Junior
Karly Dagys was also credited with an assist for Southeastern.
The Lady Lion back line of McWhirter, senior
Kyle MacIntosh, sophomore
Shanyce Shaw and freshman
Jennifer Marzi was again dominant, holding Alabama State to just one shot in the match. Junior goalkeeper
Cassie Northrup picked up her second shutout in as many starts.
With her goal, Cooper, a two-time first team All-Southland Conference performer from Hawthorne, Calif., continued her climb up the Southeastern career scoring list. Cooper's goal was the 26th of her career, moving her into a tie for fifth place with former teammate Natalie Santana in school history.
Southeastern head women's soccer coach
Blake Hornbuckle was pleased with the victory, but was quick to point out that the Lady Lions need to continue to work on as the season progresses.
“We came out a little flat today, which often happens when you're playing the second match of a weekend this early in the season,” Hornbuckle commented. “We have to do a better job being mentally prepared. We were very pleased with our execution on the set piece near the end of the first half. That goal gave us a 3-0 lead and helped open the match up for us.”
Hornbuckle singled out several individuals for their efforts on Sunday.
“We were once again pleased with the play of
Lauren Stillians and
Kelsey Salcido in the central midfield,” Hornbuckle said. “Both of them were consistent ball winners for us today.
Kyle MacIntosh did a great job of coming up from the back and getting us forward into our attack. Our entire back line did nice work distributing and Maiya was a great target for us up top.”
The Lady Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 17th minute. Stillians looked to serve a ball towards the ASU net, but it was deflected by a Lady Hornet defender. The ball rolled right to McWhirter, who stepped up and rocketed a shot off the hands of Alabama State goalkeeper Kylee Hathaway and into the net from well outside the box.
The Lady Lions added to their lead in the 24th minute. Dagys played a cross to Miller on the right side. The Castle Rock, Colo. native patiently pulled Hathaway out and flipped a shot into the net for her second score of the season.
Miller would strike again with just over three minutes left in the half. After an ASU foul, MacIntosh was awarded a free kick and served a ball deep towards the Lady Hornet net. With players from both teams battling, the ball rolled free for several seconds before Miller knocked it in from close range to give Southeastern a more comfortable 3-0 lead. The goal gave Miller the first multi-goal match of her career and moved her season total to a team-high three goals.
Cooper closed out the scoring for Southeastern midway through the second half. Stillians played a ball ahead and the speedy Cooper settled it and put it in the net to provide the 4-0 final margin. Southeastern had multiple near misses, as Cooper, Salcido, Stillians, McWhirter and freshman
Jen Babcock all had good scoring chances go awry.
Southeastern will be back in action on Friday, opening a four-game road swing with a 7 p.m. contest at in-state foe Louisiana-Lafayette.
