HAMMOND, La. – Senior Christina Cutura scored three goals in the second half to lead the Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team to a 4-0 win over Nicholls Friday night at Strawberry Stadium.
 
With the win, the Lady Lions (7-6-4, 4-4-3 in the Southland Conference) secured a berth in the Southland Conference Tournament Wednesday at Lamar in Beaumont, Texas.
 
SLU celebrated Senior Night prior to the game honoring Cutura, Vanessa Arzaluz, Payton Colson and Sofia Olsson.
 
Cutura provided a story book finish to her home soccer career with a hat-trick. The Pearl River, Louisiana native scored on an assist from Amber Marinero. Later, Cutura scored on a header after a beautifully played ball by sophomore Megan Gordon. The senior forward scored her third goal in the 85^th minute on a great pass from freshman Brogan Bernadas.
 
"It was great team work on all three goals," said Cutura. "Our team is very unselfish and it showed tonight. And then the last one, Brogan couldn't have been more unselfish. She played a great ball. But tonight was so much more than just the match. It was about the character of players we have and the team chemistry and a lot of that is because of Coach (Chris McBride-SLU head soccer coach). He has brought in a lot of great players and great girls to help us become a great team."
 
Southeastern senior Sofia Olsson capped off a spectacular night for the Lady Lions scoring the final goal. The Orust, Sweden native took a perfect lead pass from sophomore Jada Ellis, and Olsson did the rest out-running the defender to the net as the Lady ran their way to the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
"It's good to achieve your goals," said McBride. "And this is what we set out to do at the beginning of the year. We wanted to make the conference tournament and we have worked our way towards that the entire conference season picking up points regularly."
 
SLU finished with 13 shots and nine on goal. Cutura and Marinero each had four shots while Arzaluz had two. Nicholls (3-15-0, 1-10-0) had 10 shots and four on goal.
 
Friday's victory secured the sixth-seed for Southeastern and will put them against third-ranked and defending tournament champion Lamar (11-5-2, 7-2-2) in the first round of the Conference Tournament Wednesday at 8 p.m.
 
The Lady Lions faced Lamar on the road Oct. 5 and battled them to a 0-0 tie. LU is 16-1-1 at home since the start of the 2017 season.
 
SCORE ONE MORE CLUB/S CLUB
 
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the women's soccer program are encouraged to join the Score One More Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
 
All membership fees and donations to Score One More Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern soccer program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Soccer, follow @SLUSoccer and @chrismcbride88 on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
- www.LionSports.net -
 
2018 Southland Conference Women's Soccer Tournament Bracket
 
Wednesday, Oct. 31 – Beaumont, Texas
 
Game 1 – (1) Central Arkansas vs. (8) Northwestern State – 11 a.m.
Game 2 – (4) McNeese vs. (5) Abilene Christian – 2 p.m.
Game 3 – (2) Houston Baptist vs. (7) Stephen F. Austin – 5 p.m.
Game 4 – (3) Lamar vs. (6) Southeastern – 8 p.m.