Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls State
SFA Routs NICH, Advances To SLC Tournament Championship
11/7/2014 12:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
BEAUMONT, Texas - The top-seeded Stephen F. Austin women's soccer team recorded their nation-leading 14th consecutive win in a 5-0 shutout of fifth-seeded Nicholls on Friday night at the Lamar Soccer Complex to advance to the Southland Conference Tournament championship match.
The shutout was the 13th overall for the Ladyjacks (16-2-1) on the season, as the five-goal margin of victory over Nicholls (10-10-0) is the largest for SFA in program history when playing in the SLC tournament. The previous mark was a 5-1 triumph of McNeese State in 2009.
Senior Christie Hinojosa (3) paced the Ladyjacks with two goals, the first multi-goal match of her career, as Megan Dunnigan (3), Zuri Prince (10) and Hanna Barker (7) also scored.
After an initial delay of almost 40 minutes, due to the Houston Baptist-Sam Houston State match going into a shootout (HBU prevailed 4-2), the Ladyjacks and Colonels played an even match to open up play, before Dunnigan scored what later proved to be the game-winner in the 23rd minute. The goal, coming on a scramble in front of NICH keeper Taylor Mosley (6-9-0), was the third of the season for the senior defender.
Prince added a second goal for SFA 4:42 later on a feed from junior Rachel Owens in the 28th minute, as the Ladyjacks took a 2-0 lead into halftime.
In the second period, Hinojosa added to SFA's lead on quick pass from Barker in front of the keeper in the 48th minute, before Barker added a goal of her own in the 55th minute on a put back of her initial shot to give SFA a 4-0 advantage.
Hinojosa capped off the scoring affair with her second of the match, beating two defenders in the 58th minute, as the Ladyjacks arrived at the 5-0 final to advance to the championship match for a fourth consecutive season.
SFA will play HBU, the third seed, at 1:05 p.m. on Sunday with the winner claiming the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The championship match will be streamed on ESPN3.
Postgame Quotes
Head Coach Wally Crittenden:
Crittenden's opening comments...
"It was a great game. There were some indicators in training this week that we were excited about and we had a good idea that we would come out fresh and execute at a high level. Ultimately, there were some other indicators in the depth of our team that also had us excited. This is the healthiest we have been since the first full weekend of the season, so it was get some of the firing and close to how we want to play from an execution standpoint at this point in the season.
It was great to get a lot of good player a lot of developmental minutes. We competed at a very high level throughout. There was no drop off, as we played very professional and didn't give up a lot of dangerous opportunities."
Crittenden on advancing to the championship match...
"From this point forward, it is earning the right to play one more game. Tonight, we came out, we were focused and we had good energy. The team played well and they earned the right to play Sunday. As we go into Sunday, we will cut loose and let them relax a little bit tomorrow and start to heal and then go into Sunday with the understanding that we need to earn the right to play in the NCAA Tournament. From a motivation standpoint there is not much we need to say, but it is more about recovery and managing that emotion, because we don't want emotion to dictate the way we play a game."
Senior Midfielder Christie Hinojosa
Hinojosa on multi-goal match:
"It's really special. I couldn't have done it without my teammates. They gave me some great balls and I executed and put the ball away. It feels really great to get some goals in there. I couldn't have done it without my teammates and it feels great."
Hinojosa on motivation going into championship match...
"We're putting everything on the line. We're playing for the championship. After losing last year we just want to get back and make in to the NCAAs. We have all the motivation in the world and we're ready."
-SFA-
