HAMMOND, La. — Facing an obstacle of having to play an entire second half with just 10 players, Lamar University's women's soccer team accepted the challenge and would keep their unbeaten start rolling with a 1-0 win against Southeastern Louisiana. The win puts LU's record at 9-0-1 overall and 6-0 in the Southland Conference. They also hand the Lions their first home loss of the season.
Led by an inspiring effort from Christine Kitaru, who netted the lone goal on just four shots, the Cardinals finished outshooting the Lions 10-3 in the game. Kaisa Juvonen recorded the assist on the goal. Nicole Panis faced and stopped all three shot attempts to record LU's sixth shutout in the last seven games. "I can’t say enough about how tough and resilient our girls were to come into a tough road environment and come away with a win," said head coach Nathan Kogut. "Even down a player for an entire half, we had more of the ball and the better chances. Winning on the road in a conference game is always tough and we are happy to get back to Beaumont with six points this weekend."
The Cardinals would get off to a strong offensive start firing four shots on the Lions in the first 16 minutes. It was on their fifth shot that LU would breakthrough as Kitaru got the Cardinals a 1-0 lead with Juvonen getting an assist. SELA turned up the intensity as they would create two scoring chances for themselves only to be stopped by Panis.
As the second half began, LU faced a dilemma as they would be forced to play one player short due to a red card. Four of LU's chances to tack on were nullified by offsides calls while the Lions had one chance at an equalizer in the 81st minute. But thanks to Panis and the Cardinals' resiliency, none of these issues would faze them as Big Red managed to keep their 1-0 lead in tact throughout the second half to preserve the win.