HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University women's soccer team clinched a berth in next month's Southland Conference Tournament with a 2-0 Senior Day victory Sunday evening at Strawberry Stadium.
The Lady Lions (6-9-1, 4-4-1 SLC) outshot the visiting Colonels (1-17, 0-9 SLC), 21-4, to extend their unbeaten streak to four matches. The victory allowed Southeastern to retain the Crystal Cup for the third straight season and ensured SLU would be part of the seven-team field at the SLC Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 1-5 in Corpus Christi, Texas.
"We were able to secure a berth in the conference tournament today, which was the most important thing." Southeastern head coach
Nathan Gillespie commented. "We'll have the opportunity to refocus for our final game and reset for the postseason."
Prior to the game, Southeastern honored the 2023 senior class of
Mya Guillory,
Hanna Moffatt,
Emma Jones and
Tilly Deacon. All four played major roles in Sunday's victory. Moffatt and Guillory accounted for the two goals, while Jones assisted on Guillory's score. Jones and Deacon were both key contributors to a back line that helped SLU to its fourth shutout victory of the season.
"We're going to miss the experience of all four of these seniors," Gillespie said. "Emma was the SLC Freshman of the Year and has been solid as a rock throughout her career. The player Tilly has grown in to during her time here was evident in her play tonight.
"Mya is such a threat and our conference has struggled to play against her," Gillespie continued. "She'll be tough to replace. We were fortunate to get Hanna back for another year and she came through with another game-winning goal here tonight"
Southeastern took the lead for good in the 29
th minute.
Hailie Yoder sent a shot on frame that Nicholls goalkeeper Megan Cook had to make a diving stop on. Cook couldn't maintain possession, however, and Moffatt was there to knock in her fourth goal of the season to give SLU a 1-0 lead.
The Lady Lions wouldn't secure the final margin until the waning seconds of the contest. With just nine seconds remaining, Guillory headed in a Jones free kick to give SLU the 2-0 victory.
Southeastern will close out the regular season Friday with a 7 p.m. contest at Lamar, which has secured the Southland regular season championship and the top seed in the SLC Tournament. Friday's match will be televised on ESPN+.
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 @Nathan90G on X, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and follow slusoccer on Instagram.
