On Oct. 23, the Lady Lions celebrated their Senior Night by dominating opposing team McNeese State, 5-1. 

Both teams put up an impressive fight in the first twenty five minutes of the game; however, Southeastern took the lead, with senior forward Makenzie Maher stealing the first goal in the 31st minute of the match. Defender Halli Roe and forward Nicole O’Neill aided with the assist.

“I could never imagine having a senior night like this, but I’m just really happy this gives us momentum going forward and building into the next week. It’s a great way to end off the week,” said Maher. 

Midfielder Mya Guillory and senior midfielder Victoria Brackmann scored an additional two goals. Brackmann converted a penalty kick from the spot after a foul was committed by McNeese in the box. Southeastern finished the first half up 3-0. 

Goalie Olivia Griffin prohibited any goals from McNeese after defending against three shot attempts on frame in the first 45 minutes of the match. 

Guillory said, “I think we should take all of these positives that we did have from this game and build off of it and look forward going into our final Southland conference game and the conference tournament.”

McNeese finally managed a goal in the second half of the game at the 68th-minute mark. The Lady Lions were not affected by this; instead, Hannah Moffatt answered  with a goal of her own thanks to an assist by Maher and Gullory, bringing the score to 4-1.

Maher then secured her second and final goal of the night, leading the Lions to a 5-1 win. Southeastern ended the evening with ten shots on goal and seventeen shots overall. This win will drive Lady Lions’ spirits as they head to face off against Northwestern on Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. in their regular season finale.

Head Coach Nathan Gillespie encouraged the team, saying, “My message going forward is to take positives from this, to be positive and happy with these results we’re getting and to know that we are playing well at the right time of the year. And obviously, you know, we can beat anybody on any day. We have to have the belief in ourselves that we can beat them. Moving forward, we have to trust in that belief no matter what and keep being brave with the ball. Keep being brave. Keep wanting the ball. Keep pushing forward. And everything else will work out for us.”