HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana women's soccer team wrapped up the regular season with a 4-0 shutout win over Nicholls Friday Night in Strawberry Stadium for 'Senior Night.'
The Lady Lions (6-2-3 Southland) will play in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament Tuesday in Beaumont, Texas against an opponent and time still to be determined. Southeastern is projected to be the fifth seed in the tournament but won't be officially announced until later this weekend.
SLU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first half as junior
Jamie Raines scored on a great cross from
Mya Guillory in the ninth minute. Later in the half,
Makenzie Maher scored her fifth goal of the season on a great lead pass from
Ellie Williams giving the Lady Lions a two-goal lead at halftime.
In the second half, Southeastern continued to dominate the match. Freshman
Kathleen Myers scored her first career goal in the 65
th minute followed shortly after by Guillory's team-leading sixth goal in the 68
th minute as SLU cruised to the win.
"We did a really good job of limiting their chances," said SLU head coach Chris McBride. "We managed to press them tightly so they couldn't create space even though they got in behind a couple of times through some direct balls but I thought we defended it well. It was just good to finish out the regular season on a high note."
With the win, SLU also finished the season undefeated at home (5-0-1), the first time since the 2015 season.
"To be undefeated at home, that's a credit to the Southeastern atmosphere," said McBride. "It goes to the environment of the campus and the community we hold here. The stands have been packed every single game and that just gives us a little extra boost when we're at home.
Southeastern extended their unbeaten streak to eight (5-0-3), the longest regular season unbeaten streak by the Lady Lions in the 25-year history of the program. The 2010 Lady Lions had an eight match undefeated streak (7-0-1) with seven of them coming in the conference season with one win in the conference tournament.
"We just take that one game at a time," said McBride. "We've had the opportunity to do that because of where the program has been in the past and how it attracts players to come here. It's a program history that has built a good reputation."
SLU outshot Nicholls (0-15-1, 0-10-1 Southland) for the match, 21-3, led by Maher with four shots and two on goal. Guillory added three with two on goal.
The shutout was the Lady Lions' fifth of the season as they continued their defensive dominance. Southeastern has allowed just four goals in the last nine matches and one in the last 564 minutes.
Southeastern will depart for the Southland Tournament Monday at a time to be determined.
"The key for us is to remember that nothing changes," said McBride. "We want to take the same approach next week (in the conference tournament) where the desire to win is the main focus and that's what we want do. We will take it one game at a time."
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.
