Ladyjacks Blank Warhawks at Home in Exhibition, 4-0

Friday, August 10

Nacogdoches, Texas

5:00 P.M

Stephen F. Austin

Louisiana-Monroe (Exhibition)

Ladyjacks Blank Warhawks at Home in Exhibition, 4-0

8/10/2018 8:52:00 PM | Women's Soccer

SFA outshoots ULM 20-2 in exhibition contest

By: Kevin Meyer | Assistant Director of Athletic Media Relations

NACOGDOCHES, Texas -- Amid a humid and sunny Texas evening, the Stephen F. Austin women's soccer team opened the weekend on the right foot, routing visiting Louisiana-Monroe 4-0 in an exhibition bout on Friday. The match was held in front of a healthy crowd of 172 spectators, and featured a fast and athletic Ladyjacks offense on full display. Goals from a pair of underclassmen staked SFA out to a 2-0 halftime lead, before a brace of goals from junior Katie Jennings in the second half put the game on ice for the home side in a big way.

After the two sides opened up play with a few minutes of feeling each other out, the 'Jacks settled into the attack early and often, beginning with a pair of corner kicks in the ninth minute of play. A couple minutes later, a service into the box from Jennings almost resulted in the game's first tally, as Elise Davis was able to flick a quick shot at goal, only to see it scooped up by the Warhawk keeper.

Even against a defensive formation determined to bunker down and withstand the 'Jacks attack, it wouldn't take for SFA to strike. Sophia Fondren turned over a ULM player in the final third and dished a quick pass off to freshman Mattie Musser, who in turn took a quick touch and fired a shot past the keeper with great aplomb. Now staked out to a quick lead, SFA continued to push its advantage, and by the time a water break was called 23 minutes in, the Ladyjacks had already put together several dangerous combinations, missing only a pass or two to create a shot on goal.

With play resumed, Katelyn Termini nearly doubled the lead in the 35th minute of play, outpacing her defender to a 50/50 ball and firing a great low strike that carried just wide of goal after passing the keeper. Unfazed, Termini would have a big part to play in SFA's goal just one minute later, as she played a through ball to classmate Sabrina Segovia in the middle of the field heading towards goal. Segovia sidestepped a defender with a final touch and then blasted a shot past the goalkeeper to send SFA into the half with a two-goal lead.

In the 53rd minute, the 'Jacks nearly added a goal off the set piece, as Carli Arthurs took a pass off a corner kick and fired off a scintillating strike at goal that narrowly scored, rising just over the crossbar and out of play. Another look by Segovia in the 57th minute was also well struck but wide of frame, and so the margin stayed pat. In the 67th minute, however, Jennings got a look on goal and punished the ball into the the net from 21 yards out, clipping the crossbar and ricocheting downward into the goal. After nearly adding another tally in the 81st minute off a well-placed ball into the box off the foot of Lauren Prentice, Jennings struck in the 87th minute with a powerful header set up by an Elise Davis cross, a career day for the junior back.

"We had tremendous competitive intensity today", said SFA head coach Wally Crittenden. "Fitness was pretty good, it was HOT, moving that game up we were hoping there would be some cloud cover but man it was hot, so to see our kids do what they did and to have that rotation and personnel that allowed for us to sustain a really high athleticism on the field, that was really good. I think from a scheme and soccer standpoint we still have some things we need to improve on, but to give up two shots in 90 minutes while playing the way we were playing is something I feel great about. To create 20 shots, and I think we were a pass or two or a dangerous serve away from maybe hitting 25-30 shots, but to have 20 shots and score four tremendous goals, there's plenty of positives there."

The Ladyjacks displayed their athleticism and depth, punishing the Warhawks with unrelenting pressure on both sides of the ball. A total of 19 players saw the field for SFA, with effective performances up and down the lineup.

"I feel good about our identity, I feel good about our athletic intensity and I feel good about our rotations", added Crittenden. "We got really good chances with all 19 players we played today, and I thought once we made changes and got some different players in we were still able to maintain our identity and scheme. Monroe are a very organized team, they obviously put a lot of players behind the ball, which challenged us in our passing and spacing, but I thought our kids were able to adapt and stretch them and play the game and be really dangerous. Overall we're pretty happy with where we're at, but we've also got some things to work on and tweak."

Next up for SFA is a road tilt at the University of Houston on Sunday, a game schedule for a 6:00 p.m. start. That match will be the final tune-up for the Ladyjacks before the season gets underway on August 17 with the home opener against LSU-Shreveport.

-SFA-