Stephen F. Austin
UTSA
Ladyjacks Blank UTSA
10/31/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
Oct. 31, 2010
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| Postgame Interview
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack soccer team secured a No. 2 seed and a first-round bye in next week's Southland Conference Tournament by knocking off UTSA, 2-0, Friday in the regular-season finale. The Ladyjacks got two quick goals in the first five minutes then smothered the Roadrunner attack to ensure the Senior Day victory.
With the win, SFA finishes the season tied with UTSA for second place in conference play, as each team sports a 6-2-1 record. The Ladyjacks (13-5-1) take the second seed in next week's tournament by virtue of their head-to-head tiebreaker edge.
"With how we've played this year, we get rewarded with the bye, which we always thought was huge," SFA head coach Tony Amato said. "That makes it just like this weekend. We'll play two good teams on a Friday and Sunday rather than have to play Thursday, Friday and Sunday."
Just like in Friday's 1-0 win against Texas State, SFA opened strong with an early score. Jordan King headed home a long service from Becky Johnson at the 4:15 mark. The shot bounced off the hands of the sprawling UTSA goalkeeper and rolled in for King's team-leading eighth goal of the year. The goal came off a corner kick. Johnson played the corner short to Laura Sadler then swung around wide and got the ball back before sending it in for King.
The Ladyjacks were back on the scoreboard barely 30 seconds later, as Sadler scored at the 4:51 mark to make it a 2-0 game. Kim Kimmel started a run and played the ball ahead for Sadler, who outran the last defender before beating the 'keeper one-on-one for her sixth goal of the year.
The scoring strike looked almost identical to the goal against Texas State two days ago, when Sadler assisted on Kimmel's shot.
"We wanted to start strong and we saw on Friday when we got the early goal it makes a difference in the game," Amato said. "We talked to them about how goals change games. We wanted to come out and get an early one. We were really able to capitalize with getting two [goals] early and I thought that put them in a hole. We emphasized getting forward early and it paid off today."
SFA was just as solid at the other end of the field. The Ladyjacks held UTSA to just two shots -- one on goal -- in the first period. The Roadrunners were only able to put two shots on goal in the contest, though they finished with 12 total attempts.
UTSA came into the contest as the Southland leader in goals with 41. The Roadrunners had been shut out just twice coming into Sunday's game.
"We knew they were a good team," Amato said. "We wanted to keep everything in front of us. The idea was to put them under pressure but make them play back. We know they have some key players they look for and we identified them and talked to the team about it. To be fair to our backs, it's something they've done for long stretches this year, and this weekend it's really paid off with how hard they worked."
Freshman goalkeeper Lacey Lee (3-1-0) played all game in net, recording one save to pick up her third shutout in three starts. The consecutive shutouts against Texas State and UTSA give the Ladyjacks six for the year.
"The girls played awesome this weekend," Amato said. "Picked up two huge wins, sets us up for next weekend with a bye, and we have everything to play for now. It's an important time of the year."
"I think we've got some momentum, we've hit our stride," he added. "We've gotten our shape readjusted this week and we're excited for next weekend."
As the No. 2 seed, SFA will await the winner of Thursday's first-round game between No. 3 UTSA and No. 6 Lamar. More information regarding the tournament will be announced as it becomes available.
-- SFA --
