SFA Caps Perfect Southland Season
10/28/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 28, 2005
MONROE, La. - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack soccer team capped off one of the best regular seasons in the program's history Friday night with a 3-0 win over Louisiana-Monroe to finish the Southland Conference schedule with a perfect 7-0 record. The victory was the Ladyjacks' 11th straight -- a school record -- and put SFA in the SLC record books as the only team in league history to finish the conference season undefeated and untied. With the win, SFA secured the fourth SLC regular-season championship in program history.
"The girls are very proud of themselves, and they feel very good about this win," SFA head coach Jaime Frias said. "We've been fortunate enough to have kids in the program who are just competitors, regardless of the situation in the standings or what the game means. They're going to go out and compete, just because it's in their nature."
The Ladyjacks locked up a share of the Southland title and the No. 1 overall seed in next week's postseason tournament when they knocked off Northwestern State and McNeese State last weekend. Friday, they secured their place in the record book with three second-half goals.
Freshman Amanda Lackey broke a scoreless tie nearly 20 minutes into the second period when she scored unassisted for her sixth goal of the season. Eleven minutes later, at the 73-minute mark, classmate Amanda Alders knocked home the second SFA goal of the night, also unassisted. Then with less than a minute remaining in the match, freshman Alie Jackson headed home a crossing pass from classmate Summer Bradfield to finish things off.
"I think ULM came out in the first half and did a good job of disrupting our rhythm of play and our possession," Frias said. "They did a good job of putting pressure on the ball. We just told our girls at halftime to come back out and play their game and to calm down. They did that. They settled down and relaxed and got three very good goals."
Alders' goal extended an impressive individual streak that has seen the Colleyville native net a goal in each of the Ladyjacks' last 11 contests. Her 15 goals this season lead the Southland Conference and put her in a tie for first place on the school's single-season list.
Freshman goalkeeper Fran Tierno started in the place of senior Natascia Michalezki and recorded four saves to earn her first win of the season. The Ladyjack defense was again nearly impenetrable, holding the Lady Indians to just seven shots for the entire match.
"This was a team effort," Frias said. "Everyone worked their hearts out and battled for a full 90 minutes. Alie Jackson's goal in the last 30 seconds attests to that."
SFA's next action will be in the second round of the SLC Tournament, scheduled for Nov. 3-6 in Natchitoches, La. The Ladyjacks will have a first-round bye before opening play on Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. against the winner of Thursday's match between the No. 4 and 5 seeds.
-- SFA --
