GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Southwestern University women's soccer team woke up in the second half in a big way with four goals en route to a 4-0 victory over visiting St. Thomas to remain in third place in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference standings.
Southwestern (6-4-4, 6-2-1 SCAC) and St. Thomas played to a 0-0 tie after a physical first 45 minutes of action that saw the Pirates hold advantages of 7-3 and 3-2 in shots and corner kicks, respectively. St. Thomas was called for six fouls compared to Southwestern's two while the Celts' goalkeeper needed to make three saves compared to two by Johnna Campbell.
To say that it was not an entertaining first half would be a lie, but it would be the home-standing Pirates that would really liven the raucous crowd of over 200 in attendance at Varsity Field.
The first two goals of the contest came within 0:39 of each other.
The first was by way of some gorgeous passing that saw Lilly Van Meter take an outlet pass and dribble her way up the right sideline before finding Samantha Hazen near the front right corner of the penalty box. Hazen then dribbled near the end line pulling the goalie from her spot leaving the middle of the net wide open.
Juliet Pridgen collected the centering pass from Pridgen and made Happy Gilmore proud as she tapped it in from 2-yards out.
Hazen extended her team lead in assists to six and points to 14 on Pridgen's tally.
Van Meter was rewarded with a goal of her own just moments later off a rebound from inside the penalty box that was off a Southwestern corner kick. The goal was Van Meter's second of the season and second in as many games after notching the tea's lone goal in a 2-1 loss at Texas Lutheran three days prior.
Sydney Boswell and Nadia Brown both collected unassisted goals to give head coach Linda Hamilton's bunch all the insurance they'd need for their second four-goal margin of victory over St. Thomas (2-10-4, 1-4-3 SCAC) this season after previously downing the Celts 5-1 on Sept. 30.
Campbell was outstanding in goal once again for the Pirates as she saved all four shots on goal she faced for her fifth clean sheet of the season.
The win gave Southwestern three points in the SCS standings to a total of 19 with three points for a win and one point for a tie. Trinity and Texas Lutheran also winning their last matches with remain at 27 and 19 points, respectively, for the top two spot in the conference.
UP NEXT
The Ladies of Centenary College come to town on Sunday, Oct. 16 to take on the Pirates at Varsity Field. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m. CDT.