SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team battled the University of Incarnate Word to a 0-0 tie Friday night at Gayle & Tom Benson Stadium in the first of a two-game road trip in Texas.
The Lady Lions (3-2-2 Southland) were led by sophomore
Mya Guillory with a game-high seven shots with one on goal. Goalkeeper
Nadine Maher added six saves to help preserve the tie for SLU.
SLU Senior
Megan Gordon was a force for the Lady Lions offensively as she helped create several opportunities for the offense. Junior
Dalton Fish helped anchor the Lady Lions' back line providing several open field tackles.
"I thought our effort was remarkable," said Gordon. "I know we deserved a win but the team had each other's backs and I think that's why the team has been performing well all season."
Fish echoed Gordon's sentiments as she talked about the determination of the defense.
"We just played hard all night," said Fish. "We knew it was going to be a tough match and that they were going to test our defense but the entire team and defense held up strong."
The Cardinals (4-3-2, 3-2-2 Southland) was led by Gio Olivieri with four shots to pace UIW.
In the first half, both teams' defenses were up to the challenge as just six shots were allowed in the first 45 minutes, three for each team.
The action picked up midway through the second half. In the 72
nd minute, Olivieri took a shot from 30 yards out that was deflected by Maher just enough as the shot hit the crossbar keeping the match scoreless.
In the 77
th minute, Maher, again made a huge save. UIW's Eve Clarkson got a wide open shot from 15 yards out. However, Maher, the Dublin, Ireland native, dove to her right deflecting the shot out of bounds.
The Lady Lions' best opportunity in regulation came in the 84
th minute. Junior
Claire Huston lofted a corner kick right in front of the UIW net. Guillory came flying in and had a shot from point black range but had it deflected out of bounds by Cardinals' goalkeeper Margaret Kofron as the match headed for overtime.
In the first overtime, the Lady Lions controlled the tempo for most of the 10-minute period. SLU nearly won the match in the final seconds of the period.
Guillory got free behind the UIW defense and was one-on-one with Kofron. Guillory, the Prairieville, Louisiana native, slid in to try and get a shot off with just two seconds left in the period. The shot got past Kofron but missed just right of the post sending the game to double overtime and eventually a scoreless tie.
The Lady Lions finished with 13 shots for the match to 12 for UIW. SLU had seven corner kicks to two for the Cardinals.
"I felt like our energy was really good tonight," said SLU head coach Chris McBride. "We created some really good chances to score. All-in-all I thought it was a really good effort from us top to bottom. Plus, It's always a positive to get a point on the road."
Next up, the Lady Lions will travel four hours north to face Abilene Christian (7-5-1, 3-3-0 Southland) Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in Abilene, Texas.
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 @LionUpSoccer and @chrismcbride88 on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit
www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets for the 2020-21 season. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.
