CONWAY, Ark. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team scored two quick goals for the second straight match, sparking the Lady Lions to a 3-1 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round of the Southland Conference Championships at Central Arkansas' Bill Stephens Soccer Complex Thursday afternoon.
 
Kayla Vera and Gisenia Utreras both scored in the first 19 minutes for the fourth-seeded Lady Lions (12-4-3) before a pair of lightning delays. Maggie Ramsey added another goal after the second delay to make it 3-0 at the half. Utreras, Ana Zadro and Hope Sabadash had the assists on the three goals.
 
"They were absolutely massive," Southeastern head coach Blake Hornbuckle said of the first-half goals. "To get three in the first half and really force Corpus to come out and press hard at the start of the second half was great for us.
 
"I thought we handled the weather delays fantastic. We were delayed for about an hour and we got out after the second one and were able to get another goal which really set a great tone for us."
 
Hailey Sutton scored for fifth-seeded TAMCC (5-11-2) early in the second half.
 
Sabadash made the lead stand up with six saves while Megan Delaney made two for the Islanders.
 
Southeastern, which scored two goals in the first 15 minutes in a 2-1 win at Nicholls State in the regular season finale, will now play regular season champion and top-seeded Stephen F. Austin (9-7-2) in the semifinals Friday at 4:30 p.m. The winner advances to Sunday's 1:05 p.m. championship match with an automatic berth into the Women's College Cup at stake.
 
"I think the big keys for us are just getting ourselves prepared mentally and physically," Hornbuckle said. "At this point, it's all about elimination - survive and advance. Corpus really came out in the second half and put pressure on us and we bent but didn't break."
 
Vera had the opening shot of the match sail wide at the 3:49 mark. Delaney then stopped a shot by Ana Zadro seven minutes later before Jessica Berdan sent a header high for the Islanders at the 11:52 mark.
 
On the counter attack, Vera chased down a pass from Utreras on the right sidelines, dribbled around a defender and slipped in a shot into the bottom right side of the net from four yards out for her third goal of the season at the 12:15 mark.
 
Sabadash kept the Lady Lions in the lead with a save of a shot by Nanna Poulsen at the 16:55 mark.
 
Utreras gave Southeastern a 2-0 lead at the 18:47 mark, slipping the ball away from Delaney, then tapping it from five yards out for her team-high 12th goal of the season. The goal moved Utreras into a tie with Maiya Cooper (2011) for ninth for most goals in a season by a Lady Lion while her 32nd point of the year tied Cooper (2009) and Kim McNally (2004) for fourth most.
 
After the two lightning delays, Sabadash stopped an attempt by Berdan at the 30:08 mark. Ramsey then missed wide on a shot, but came back with a run down the left side after taking a pass from Sabadash. She juked past Mariah Olive, then slipped a shot past Delaney from nine yards out for her sixth goal of the season, extending the lead to 3-0 at the 32:50 mark.
 
"Kayla Vera made a big impression up top today," Hornbuckle said. "I thought Gisenia transitioned really good from midfield along with Maggie and Ana Zadro. All had hands in creating and finishing balls today. And Hope Sabadash was again fantastic in goal."
 
After Delaney saved an attempt by Vera and Utreras shot high, TAMCC made a run in the final five minutes of the half. Hailey Sutton sent a shot wide before Sabadash saved shots by Poulsen and Emma Biba to keep the Lady Lions up by three.
 
"It was tough but both teams had the lightning delay," TAMCC head coach Shanna Caldwell said. "I think our problems started to happen before the lightning delay. We just came out a little bit slow, were on our heels, and were very reactive. It took us until the second half for us to decide we were going to go out and play our style."
 
The Islanders got on the board at the 51:13 mark of the second half when Sutton took a chip from Berdan in the box and beat Sabadash from eight yards out for her fourth goal of the season, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
 
But that would be the end of the scoring as Sabadash denied an attempt by Biba at the 56:05 mark. Biba then missed wide at 57:33. The Islanders continued to apply pressure as Sabadash saved a shot by Brooke Erdmann at 64:42. Sutton missed wide, Erdmann had a shot blocked and Zoe Cole sent a shot high over the next five minutes. Those ended up being the final shots for TAMCC.
 
On Friday, Southeastern will be taking on a Stephen F. Austin team looking for a conference tournament title after losing in the finals the past two seasons. The Ladyjacks, led by Coach of the Year Wally Crittenden, won their fifth straight regular season title with an 8-1-2 mark.
 
Stephen F. Austin placed eight players on the All-Southland Conference teams announced this week. Junior midfielder Amanda Doyle was named the conference Player of the Year after finishing seventh in the SLC with seven goals and tied for eighth with 17 points. Freshman forward Breanna Moore added four goals. Sophomore forward Hanna Barker, a second team All-SLC selection, led the squad and tied for eighth in the conference with five assists while scoring three goals. SFA scored 22 goals on the season, tied for eighth in the league.
 
The Ladyjacks placed fourth in the league with 20 goals allowed and had a 1.08 goals against average, good for third place. SFA had seven shutouts, second behind Southeastern's eight. Sophomore keeper Lillie Ehlert made second team all-conference after recording a 1.05 GAA with 78 saves and two shutouts. Junior defender Brooke Dunnigan joined Doyle on the all-conference first team while senior defender Chantal Curry was a second team pick.
 
SFA blanked Southeastern 2-0 in Nacogdoches in league play on Oct. 18. Doyle and Moore scored second-half goals off assists by Barker while Ehlert and Allyson Smith combined on the shutout. The Lady Lions out-shot the Ladyjacks 16-12 in the match.