HARDEEVILLE, S.C. - The No. 4 Southeastern women's soccer team earned an 8-0 victory in their last regular season game against USC Beaufort Saturday afternoon.
In the first three minutes of play, the Fire earned a corner kick. Senior Melanie Peyton took the corner for the Fire which found the head of Uchenna Kanu to give SEU a 1-0 advantage.
This marked Kanu's 147th career goal, breaking the record for NAIA Soccer's All-Time Career Goals, and is the most goals scored by a player at one institution.
Head Coach Randy Belli commented, "Uche is a special player. We talk about it all the time, and we expect her to score goals every game and that's a heavy burden to have as a player. She's a first class player, and we're proud of her, we look forward to seeing her represent Southeastern at the next level."
Kanu comments, "I thank God for giving me this opportunity to be part of this team, and giving me the talent. I wanted to also thank my teammates for their support, without them I wouldn't have as much success. I'm very honored to be apart of Southeastern's program and I look forward to what God has in store for me in the future."
The game remained 1-0 for the Fire until the 23rd minute of play, when Aisha Solorzano scored her seventh goal of the season from the assist by Isamar Duran.
Two minutes later, Solorzano found Bania Duran, who played a through ball to Kanu who scored her second goal of the game.
In the 33rd minute of the first half, Duran scored the fourth goal of the game after a one-two pass from Solorzano.
Southeastern was close to increasing their lead by two as Solorzano hit the post on two occasions in the first half. Into halftime, the Fire lead USC Beaufort 4-0. Southeastern recorded 19 total shots in the first half, compared to the Sand Sharks one shot.
The score remained 4-0 until the 63rd minute of play, when the Fire scored three goals in a matter of three minutes to take a 7-0 advantage. Freshman Chloe Martin scored the fifth goal for SEU from the assist by Peyton and Kanu. In the 65th minute, Duran scored her second goal of the game from a header off of the cross by Peyton. And in the 66th minute, Kanu recorded her 25th career hat trick in the 66th minute of the game after receiving a cross from Siobhan Longomore. Kanu has 34 goals on the season so far.
Freshman, Katelyn Edwards scored the last goal of the game as she headed the ball in the goal from the assist by Longmore.
The Fire finished the afternoon with 32 total shots, compared to USCB's 11 shots. Southeastern tallied 21 shots on goal.
Sophomore goalkeeper Holly Eddins secured five total saves, and obtained her fifth shutout of the season.
Belli commented "It was a solid performance. Going 4-0 into halftime is something we have tried to do, putting a team away in the first. The four goals we scored were absolutely class, and if we keep doing that we will go deeper into the postseason."
Southeastern will be back in action on November 12th as they will play the TSC Tournament Semifinal. The time and their competitor is still to be determined.
