HAMMOND, La. – Senior
Christina Cutura scored three goals in the first half to lead Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team to a dominant win over Alcorn State 8-0 in Sunday's home opener at Strawberry Stadium.
Cutura's hat trick (three goals in a match) was the first by the Lady Lions (1-0) since Sept. 25, 2015 when Gisenia Utreras scored three goals against Incarnate Word in a 7-1 win.
Cutura, the senior from Pearl River, Louisiana, was relentless getting off 10 shots and six on goal.
"It was great to start off the home opener like that," said Cutura. "Everyone played really well and we worked as a whole all night. It was a great night for me but a lot of that credit goes to my teammates."
While Cutura led the headlines, she certainly wasn't alone. In the second half, junior
Amber Marinero scored in the 49
th minute on a beautiful assist from freshman
Sage Sammeli to make it 4-0.
Four freshmen including
Mia Milton,
Aubree Dillon,
Dalton Fish and
Chloe Gallo each scored their first collegiate goals in the second half to complete the Lady Lions onslaught. Freshman
Darby Gillette chipped in with two assists on corner kicks.
"We played great soccer tonight," said second year head coach Chris McBride. "Everything we've worked on in the preseason took affect tonight. It was nice for us to get on the right end of some of the opportunities we had tonight. We had four freshman score and everyone on this team was able to get some valuable minutes. We showed a true team identity tonight with the depth this team has."
The Lady Lions attempted a stunning 32 shots to just one for Alcorn State as SLU improved to 8-0 all-time against ASU.
Southeastern returns to action Friday night on the road against North Texas at 7 p.m. in Denton, Texas.
"North Texas is an NCAA tournament caliber team every year," said McBride. "So we are really going to have to put in some good work and get ready for them.
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.