HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team opens the second half of Southland Conference play with a pair of matches this week, including Sunday's contest that is dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness.
 
Southeastern (7-6-1, 1-2-1 Southland) will welcome Central Arkansas (9-4-1, 1-2-1 Southland) for a 1 p.m. match on Sunday at the Southeastern Soccer Complex. Southeastern Athletics will provide fans with giveaways in conjunction with Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
 
The Lady Lions start the week on the road. Southeastern will face Nicholls on Friday at 3 p.m. in Thibodaux.
 
Southeastern will be looking to bounce back from a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Lamar last Sunday in Hammond. The Lady Lions finished with a 15-12 shot advantage in the loss, but had several near misses that prevented the team from finding the net.
 
The Lady Lions still feature a prolific, balanced offense, as 12 players have accounted for the team's 31 goals. Senior Maiya Cooper leads the team with nine goals, followed by freshman Kayla Vera and junior Kelsey Salcido with four scores apiece.
 
Vera also doubles as the team's top distributor, as the Vancouver, Wash. native has a team-high five assists. Senior Kerry McWhirter follows with four assists, while senior Lauren Stillians and Salcido have three apiece.
 
Cooper ranks among the school's career leaders with 46 goals (2^nd), 108 points (2^nd), 12 game-winning goals (3^rd) and shots (160, 5^th). Senior Karly Dagys joins Cooper in the top 10 in all of those categories, while holding the school career record with 27 assists. Stillians (19, 5^th) and McWhirter (17, 7^th) are also among the program's all-time assist leaders.
 
Defensively, Stillians, McWhirter, freshman Cheyenne Maxwell, freshman Erin Christ, junior Shanyce Shaw, sophomore Chelsea Villaescusa and freshman Maddie Allen all have seen action in the back and helped the Lady Lions hold opponents to just over a goal per match. Senior Lacey Bockhaus has played every minute of the season in net and currently has a 1.20 goals against average and five shutouts. The San Leandro, Calif. native holds the Southland Conference career record with 35 shutouts and is third in school history with 279 career saves.
 
Nicholls has had its own issues finding the net as of late, opening league play with three consecutive shutout losses. Freshman Spencer Valdespino, junior Janelle Brandom and junior Annie Newell share the team lead with four goals apiece. Valdespino also leads the team with four assists. Freshman Haley Golden (0.80 GAA) and sophomore Amanda Boylson (2.50 GAA) have both seen action in goal for the Colonels.
 
Southeastern has won all 21 previous meetings with Nicholls State. Last season, Southeastern earned a 5-2 victory behind two goals by Salcido.
 
Central Arkansas, which plays at Lamar on Friday, picked up a 1-0 double-overtime victory over McNeese State last Sunday. The Bears feature the league's top scorer in junior Adriana Lucar, who has 14 goals on the year. Junior Kristin Pollard lead UCA with five assists. Senior Kelsey Gochnauer (0.89 GAA) and junior Lyndzey Goff (0.62) have both logged significant minutes in net for Central Arkansas.   
 
Southeastern is 5-1 all-time versus UCA. Last season, Southeastern blanked the Bears, 3-0, in Conway, Ark.
 
Following this week's action, Southeastern will close out the road portion of its regular season schedule, heading to new Southland member Oral Roberts for a 1 p.m. match on Sunday, Oct. 21.