BARTLESVILLE, Okla. – After building an early 4-0 lead, the No. 6 Southeastern University women's soccer team held off a late comeback effort from the No. 13 Oklahoma Welseyan University Eagles. SEU defeated OKWU 4-3 to improve to 5-0 on the season.
Southeastern struck early, as sophomore forward
Aisha Solorzano played a ball to redshirt freshman forward
Summer Rusher, who slotted past the Eagles' keeper to put the Fire ahead 1-0. The score was Rusher's fifth of the season.
The Fire tallied another in the 12
th minute after junior outside back
Melanie Peyton deposited a corner kick into the box that was headed into the back of the net by junior forward
Uchenna Kanu.
SEU tacked on the third goal of the half in the 32
nd minute. Solorzano rocketed a ball from Kanu into the upper 90.
The Fire took a 3-0 lead over the Eagles into the half.
Southeastern took all of 24 seconds in the second half to go up 4-0. Build up play from graduate midfielder
Gabriella DiDio and Rusher allowed Kanu to net her second goal of the match. The Abia, Nigeria native now has 15 goals through the first five contests of the season.
Oklahoma Wesleyan made a furious comeback effort in the later minutes, scoring three goals in the last 12 minutes of play. An Eagles' score with 1:38 remaining made it a one-goal game.
However, the Fire stood tall in the closing moments to preserve the victory.
"We had a great start in the first half, being able to go up 3-0 at the half…We have to get better at closing out games and we are going to go back to the training ground and work on that," shared Head Coach
Randy Belli.
The win was Southeastern's third of the season versus an NAIA ranked opponent.
The Fire take on another NAIA Top 25 squad this weekend, as SEU travels to Lebanon, Tenn. to take on No. 19 Cumberland University this Saturday. Match time is set for 3:00 p.m.
