FRISCO, Texas – With the return of senior Katie Noonan to the Southeastern Louisiana defense Friday night, Lady Lion head coach Blake Hornbuckle moved senior Casey Peacock back up top.

    The move paid immediate dividends as the Douglasville, Georgia native scored two goals and assisted on a third in Southeastern's 3-1 Southland Conference-opening win over McNeese in Strawberry Stadium.

    The performance earned Peacock the league's Offensive Player of the Week honor on Tuesday.

    "Casey had a big impact up top against McNeese with two goals and an assist," Hornbuckle said. "She is instilling the value of work ethic and determination in her actions both on and off the field.  The program is very happy she earned this honor."

    Peacock returned this season after missing the 2014 and '15 campaigns with injuries. She drilled a shot in from outside the box off a pass from sophomore Sofia Olsson to put Southeastern up 2-1 in the 66th minute, then headed in a corner from sophomore Vanessa Arzaluz with less than seven minutes left. She also deflected a pass to senior Amber Lasher for the first goal of the match.

    Peacock's goals were her first since she scored one in a 2-0 win over Incarnate Word on Sept. 27, 2013.The assist was her second of the season.

    Lasher and senior Hope Sabadash were honorable mention selections for the week's defensive and goalkeeper awards. Those honors went to Abilene Christian seniors Kelsie Roberts and Sydney Newton, respectively.

    The Southland honor is the first of Peacock's career. She becomes the second straight Lady Lion to receive conference Offensive Player of the Week recognition and the third of 2016, joining Olsson (week of Sept. 13) and junior Maggie Ramsey (Aug. 23). It is the fifth conference award this season for a Lady Lion as Arzaluz also received the defensive honor Aug. 23, while Sabadash was the top goalkeeper for the week of Aug. 30.

    Southeastern (4-4-1, 1-0-0) will play a pair of Southland road matches this weekend, traveling to Incarnate Word Friday at 7 p.m. and Abilene Christian on Sunday at 1 p.m.