HAMMOND – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team will close out its season-long six-match home stand with its final two non-conference matches of the season this week at the Southeastern Conference Complex.
 
The Lady Lions (5-3) start the weekend by hosting future Southland Conference foe Houston Baptist (3-5-2) on Friday at 4 p.m. Southeastern will hold Alumni Day in conjunction with Friday's match and the returning Lady Lions will be honored at halftime. Highlighting the returning group will be former Lady Lions Kim McNally and Kendra Oney, who will be inducted into the Southeastern Athletics Hall of Fame on Saturday.
 
On Sunday, Grambling (0-2) comes to town for a 3 p.m. match. Sunday's match will be the final non-conference match of the season for the Lady Lions.
 
Southeastern had its four-match winning streak snapped on Sunday. The Lady Lions took an early lead after a first half goal by freshman Casey Peacock. However, Louisiana Tech countered with two goals after halftime to emerge with a 2-1 victory.
 
The Lady Lions are currently eighth in the nation with 24 goals scored this season. Senior Maiya Cooper leads the team with seven goals. Freshman Kayla Vera and junior Kelsey Salcido follow with three scores apiece, while senior Kerry McWhirter and Peacock have two goals each. In all, 12 different Southeastern players have found the net in 2012.
 
McWhirter and Vera share the team lead with four assists. Senior Lauren Stillians has three assists and a quarter to Lady Lions – Cooper, Salcido, senior Karly Dagys and junior Shanyce Shaw – have two assists apiece.
 
Defensively, the back line of McWhirter, Shaw, sophomore Chelsea Villaescusa and freshman Erin Christ have held the opposition to eight goals this season. Senior Lacey Bockhaus has handled all the goalkeeping duties and enters the final non-conference matches of the year with a 1.00 goals against average and three shutouts.
 
Cooper ranks among the school's all-time leaders in career goals (44, 2^nd), points (104, 2^nd), game-winning goals (11, 3^rd) and shots (148, 9^th). Dagys ranks in the top 10 in all the same categories and also is the school's career leader with 27 assists. Dagys is joined among the program's all-time assist leaders by teammates Stillians (19, 5^th) and McWhirter (17, 7^th). Bockhaus is the Southland Conference career leader with 33 shutouts and is third in school history with 246 career saves.
 
Houston Baptist is looking for its first win in four matches on Friday. Southeastern will be the fourth future league rival the Huskies have faced in 2012, having previously taken on Stephen F. Austin (L, 2-0), Northwestern State (W, 3-1) and Lamar (T, 1-1).
 
Sophomore Natalie Hager leads the team with five goals, while senior Arielle Rodriguez has a team-high three assists. Junior Shelby Horn (1.41 GAA) has handled the majority of the goalkeeping duties.
Friday's match will be the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
 
Barring an upset at Northwestern State on Friday, Grambling will head to Hammond in search of its first victory of 2012. Senior Sierra Arndt has the team's lone two goals of the year, while junior Nahomie Laganrdere (3.50 GAA) has handled the goalkeeping duties.
 
Southeastern is 3-0 all-time versus Grambling. Last season, Southeastern picked up a 9-0 road victory over the Lady Tigers behind hat tricks from Cooper and Salcido.
 
Following this week's action, the Lady Lions will head to Nacogdoches, Texas on Friday, Sept. 28 to open Southland Conference play with a 7 p.m. match at defending league regular season champion Stephen F. Austin.