Lakeland, Fla. – On a night where six different Fire players found the back of the net, the Southeastern women's soccer team defeated the Ave Maria University Gyrenes 8-0 in the Sun Conference Tournament Quarterfinals. With the win, SEU earned its first ever conference postseason win in program history.
"It's exciting for the seniors who have been here for four years, have had a lot of transition, and have never had that taste of postseason victory," shared Head Coach
Randy Belli.
The Fire did not take long to strike, as
Bania Duran found
Uchenna Kanu on a long ball, which she sent on a nice cross to
Alyssa Kaminski, who finished it inside the box for the score in the 9
th minute.
In the 20th minute, a similar sequence developed as Duran found
Shayna Cole on the long ball, who sent a cross to Kanu. The freshman forward did a spectacular job of locating the ball and headed it in for a highlight worthy score. The goal was Kanu's 12
th of the season and she continued her scoring streak, having netted a goal in every game of her collegiate career.
Five minutes later, Kaminski notched her second goal of the match, as
Karly Palmar found her on the pass and Kaminski rifled one into the top corner of the net. With the score, she is now tied for the conference lead in goals scored at 14.
The Fire continued their rhythm as freshman
Brenna Bloom received a give and go ball from
Heidi Ruth at the top of the box that Bloom finished for a score in the 29
th minute. The goal was her second of the season.
SEU capped off a five goal first half in the 42
nd minute, as a shot from
Rachel Wallace was bobbled by the Ave Maria keeper and kicked through by
Chloe Durham, for her first goal of the season.
The Fire continued to build their lead quickly in the second half. In the 48
th minute,
Nicole Shaffer played a ball to
Rebecca Reynolds, who sent
Shayna Cole a through ball over the top. Cole eluded the keeper and finished the ball for her seventh goal of the season.
In the 54
th minute, Shaffer converted a penalty kick into the box for her first goal of the season. The Fire concluded their scoring in the 65
th minute, as
Konya Plummer passed one to Duran, who weaved through the Ave Maria defense and slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net for fifth goal of the season.
The Fire outshot the Gyrenes in their third meeting of the season 27-6. The 8-0 victory was the most goals scored and largest margin of victory for the program since the 17-0 Fire victory over the former Florida Christian College on 09/08/12.
"We don't want it to just be one postseason win, we want it to be multiple. So we are going to keep going and move on to the next game," commented Coach Belli.
Southeastern advances to the Sun Conference Tournament Semifinals, where they will host the six seeded St. Thomas University Bobcats. The game is set to kick off on Tuesday evening at 6 p.m.
