Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
SFA Outright Southland Conference Champions
10/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjack soccer team became outright Southland Conference champions on Friday night, downing Texas A&M - Corpus Christi 1-0 at the SFA Soccer Field on Senior Night.
SFA (14-2-1, 10-0 SLC) picked up their 12th consecutive win, while remaining undefeated both in SLC play and at home. The Ladyjacks are now 10-0 in league play and 7-0 at the SFA Soccer Field with one match remaining in the regular season.
SFA and the Islanders (4-8-3, 3-6-1) played a silent first half, taking a scoreless match into the break, before the momentum shifted in the Ladyjacks’ favor.
Senior Zuri Prince scored what later proved to be the game-winner in the 65th minute, knocking in a free ball in the box after senior Chelsea Raymond chipped sophomore Brooke Dunnigan’s corner kick over a defender. The game-winner is the Southland-Conference-leading sixth of the season for the native of Beaumont, Texas, and puts her atop the SFA lead with her ninth overall goal of the season.
The Ladyjacks outshot TAMUCC 20-5 on the match, holding an impressive 12-0 advantage in shots on goal. SFA also led 6-0 in corner kicks.
The Ladyjacks will close out the regular season on Sunday at 1 p.m., hosing Incarnate Word.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Wally Crittenden:
Crittenden on becoming the outright Southland Conference champions…
“It’s fantastic. It was a game we knew was going to be physical. Texas A&M - Corpus Christi came here with good intent and good energy. They were really excited and kept it a really tight game. You could see that towards the middle of the first half we were able to pull away. We were able to show some of our flexibility by making some personnel changes and a couple grouping changes in the middle. That allowed us really to impose ourselves in the second half as that has become consistent with this team. Obviously, as we go forward we talked about the fact that we need to be in postseason form, and I think we are in postseason form. We just have to get a little cleaner and a little tighter as we go into the first half. I want to see us start the game the way we start the second half. They’ll do that moving forward.
“To respond with the emotion that comes with senior night, it was a special night. There is a break in routine and there are some different external factors that we’ve got to deal with, but, no doubt, all of that aside, the biggest part of tonight was them going out with a result and walking off this field outright champions.”
Crittenden on not allowing a shot on goal in the match…
“That’s tremendous. That’s something that as we prepared for this week and began to see them on film – they’ve been very dangerous in the attack as of late specifically. They’re playing good, attacking soccer. So for our group to understand the type of tendencies that they showed, to prepare for that and to not give up one single shot on goal is excellent. I’m very proud of the group. That’ll be something that we lean on going forward.”
Crittenden on having opportunity to finish the season undefeated in SLC play and at home Sunday…
“It’s been so special over the last couple of weeks as you start to stack and layer on these benchmarks and achievements that are there for these players to win and to achieve. This is another one – Sunday is going to be a big one. Incarnate Word is coming here and they’re going to look to make a statement, they’re going to want to get a result and we’ve got a lot to play for. Above the benchmarks, we want to play well. We want to make sure that if Incarnate Word is the last time we play prior to our conference tournament that we have good postseason form. I’m excited about it. Again, we’ll have our normal routine, which won’t be disrupted. I expect a good, solid 90-minute performance whereas tonight I’d say we had a good 60-70 minutes.”
-SFA-
