HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana opens the road portion of its 2016 Southland Conference schedule this weekend when the Lady Lions visit Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian.
Southeastern (4-4-1, 1-0-0 SLC) travels to San Antonio to meet Incarnate Word (0-5-1, 0-1-0) Friday at 7 p.m., then swings over to Abilene, Texas, to take on the Wildcats (2-6-1, 1-0-0) at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Live stats for both games, provided by the host teams, will be accessible on the Southeastern women's soccer schedule page at
www.LionSports.net.
Southeastern is coming off a 3-1 win over McNeese in the conference opener this past Friday. Senior forward
Casey Peacock earned conference offensive player of the week honors after scoring two goals and assisting on a third. Senior midfielder
Amber Lasher added a goal while senior defender
Katie Noonan, sophomore forward
Sofia Olsson and sophomore midfielder
Vanessa Arzaluz also had assists. Senior goalkeeper
Hope Sabadash made eight saves.
Southeastern leads the Southland in shots taken (183) while ranking fourth in assists (13) and points (41), tied for fourth in goals (14) and tied for fifth in goals allowed (13). Olsson is first in shots (29), tied for second in goals (5) and fourth in points (11). Senior defender
Lauren Babcock, Arzaluz, Peacock and sophomore defender
Christina Cutura are tied for 10
th with two assists apiece.
Sabadash is second in the league in saves with 53 while also tying for second with two shutouts and ranking sixth in goals against average (1.41).
Incarnate Word will be out for its first win of the season on Friday after losing 1-0 at Houston Baptist this past Friday. Junior forward Karey Tylman took four shots, one on goal, while senior defender Ashley Crabbe put two shots on goal. Sophomore goalkeeper Sydney Huntsinger made five saves.
UIW has scored five goals on the season while allowing 12, fourth fewest in the league. The Cardinals also have four assists and 14 points while taking 74 shots. Sophomore forward Emani Stewart leads the team with two goals and four points. Sophomore forward Alyssa Amaya, freshman forward Brooke Hanson and freshman midfielder Isabel Gracia have also scored for the Cardinals. Amaya, Tylman, sophomore Sam Batley and junior midfielder Nikki Popa have the team's assists. Huntsinger ranks seventh in the Southland with 29 saves to go with a 1.72 goals against average and one shutout.
Southeastern leads the series with UIW 3-0 following a 7-1 win in Hammond in 2015. The Lady Lions also took 2-0 wins at UIW in 2014 and at home in 2013.
Sunday's opponent, Abilene Christian, features the conference's defensive and goalkeeper of the week in senior defender Kelsie Roberts and senior Sydney Newton. Roberts scored a goal and Newton made four saves in the Wildcats' 4-0 win at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday. Senior defender Leslie Snider also recorded a goal and an assist in that match.
ACU, who hosts Nicholls on Friday, ranks second behind Southeastern with 153 shots and is tied with the Lady Lions for second in the league with 14 goals. The Wildcats are also fifth in points (37) and tied for fifth in assists (9). ACU has three shutouts, tied for third in the conference.
Junior midfielder Chloe Fifer comes into the weekend tied for the league lead with five assists. Freshman forward Samantha Vestal is tied for seventh with 20 shots. Snider, senior forward Natalie Throneberry, freshman defender Shay Johnson and sophomore midfielder Chelsea Reedy have scored two goals apiece.
Newton is tied for second in the conference with two shutouts while ranking third in goals against average (0.98) and sixth in saves (31).
Abilene holds a 2-1 lead in the series. Southeastern took a 1-0 win at home last season after the Wildcats won in Abilene 2-1 in 2014 and in Hammond 1-0 in 2013.
"We look forward to a tough weekend on the road against two talented Southland teams in Incarnate Word and Abilene Christian," Southeastern head coach
Blake Hornbuckle said.
Southeastern returns home Friday, Sept. 30 to play Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. in Strawberry Stadium.
