Southeastern Louisiana Beats Texas State in Overtime
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SAN MARCOS, Texas - Southeastern Louisiana's Natalie Santana scored her second goal of the night in overtime to propel the Lady Lions past Texas State and onto the Southland Conference tournament championship match.
With the win, Southeastern Louisiana advances to Sunday's championship match to face UTSA at 1 p.m. Sunday's match will be televised live on the Southland Conference Television Network, with the winner advancing to the NCAA tournament.
Santana's first goal of the evening was scored in the 39th minute off a free kick from outside the box. In the second half, the scoring would continue for the Lady Lions as Maiya Cooper headed in a corner kick from teammate Kerry McWhirter to take a 2-0 lead.
Less than a minute later, on a Britney Curry assist, Felicia Leask dribbled in for the score to cut the Lady Lions lead to just one. The Bobcat offense continued just two minutes later when Emma Staley scored her first goal of season off Southeastern Louisiana's Lacey Bockhaus. The score was tied at two and would remain tied at the end of regulation.
Santana came up big again for the Lady Lions in the 97th minute after turning and shooting from outside the 18-yard box and past Texas State goalkeeper Lauren Frazier.
Southeastern Louisiana has now won a school record eight consecutive matches and looks to Sunday's championships match against UTSA. Southeastern Louisiana holds the season advantage against the Roadrunners after a 1-0 win in San Antonio.
www.southland.org
On his teams response when Texas State tied the game
"If you bend and give up a goal, you've got to continue to come back at them."
Texas State coach Kat Conner
"I'm proud of them because they came out and stuck to the game plan. They put everything out there and you can't ask them to play any harder. The ball just didn't roll our way tonight. They played fantastic and I know the Bobcat nation is proud of them because they fought like Bobcats"
On challenging Lacey Bockhaus:
"It's hard because they really pack it in there. When you get clean shots, you got to get a good foot on it because she [Bockhaus] has some really good reactions. Felicia's first goal was just that. She put an unbelievable ball in there and curved right into the backside netting. She then tried the exact same shot about two minutes later and Lacey comes up big time. Lacey's a fantastic goalkeeper."
Post match quotes
Southeastern Louisiana coach Blake Hornbuckle
On the difference maker in the second half
"They (Texas State) always plays the full 90 minutes. It was a fantastic game. Kat Conner's team always player very hard. It's sad that someone had to lose tonight."