HAMMOND, La. –  Southeastern scored three first-half goals, then was able to make them stand in holding off Lamar late in a 3-2 Southland Conference women's soccer victory at Strawberry Stadium Friday night.

Junior forward Bri Singh scored just a minute, 45 seconds into the match and senior Gisenia Utreras added a pair of goals in the first half for the Lady Lions (9-3-1, 4-2) who bounced back from a pair of conference road losses last weekend.

Freshman forward Jordan Mulnix scored twice in the second half for Lamar (6-9-0, 2-4) which dropped its fourth straight.

"We had a really solid first half and sometimes when you're up in a game, you have the tendency to just mentally relax for that one second and that one second can cost you," Southeastern head coach Blake Hornbuckle said. "We bent but didn't break in the second half which is very encouraging. Coming off a tough road trip with two losses, we're happy to get back on track in conference play and really push toward the conference tournament which is our goal."

Singh scored off a feed from senior Kayla Vera for her fourth goal of the season 1:45 into the match for a 1-0 lead. The assist was the second of the season for Vera.

"I think what it does is take momentum away from the other team and more importantly, gets momentum in your favor," Hornbuckle said of the early goal. "It also gives you the ability to continue to really press because your confidence level does rise."

After a shot by senior Maddie Allen hit the crossbar at the 4:40 mark, Utreras knocked in her ninth goal of the season off a pass from Singh to give the Lady Lions a 2-0 lead at the 13:37 mark of the half.

Singh re-directed a pass from junior Lauren Lorentz to Utreras and the senior capitalized on it for her team-high 10^th goal to increase the Lady Lion lead to 3-0 at the 38:34 mark. It was the third assist of the season for Singh and the first for Lorentz.

"Gisenia was a big catalyst in the game," Hornbuckle said. "We had a great feeling about her tonight once her movement was really great on the ball that she would create some great things and she did."

Lamar got on the board at the 62:02 mark when Mulnix knocked in a pass from Mari Olastuen for her eighth goal of the season.

Allen came up with a key defensive play late, deflecting a shot when a Lamar attacker got past junior keeper Hope Sabadash.

Mulnix scored again off an assist by Megan Campbell at the 86:58 mark to make it 3-2 but Southeastern was able to maintain possession in the Lamar zone for most of the final three minutes.

Sabadash made four saves while Lauren Lovejoy came up with 10 for Lamar.

Hornbuckle pointed out the play of freshman midfielder Elizabeth McMurray as a catalyst for the win.

"I really thought the play of Elizabeth McMurray in the midfield and also late in the back were absolutely fantastic," Hornbuckle said. "She did everything we asked her to do and more. She won balls, she distributed and she shut players down."

Southeastern will be on the road in conference play next weekend, visiting Sam Houston State Friday at 7 p.m. and Stephen F. Austin on Sunday at 1 p.m., so a win Friday was critical in the Lady Lions staying in the hunt in the SLC.  

"It was very important because it gives us 12 points and really 18 points is a goal to reach the conference tournament," Hornbuckle said. "There's still a lot to play and a lot to play for but our goal is to finish as high as possible."