LAKELAND, Fla.—The goals may have been a little unconventional, but Southeastern was able to come away with a 4-0 win over Georgia Gwinnett in the first round of the NAIA Women's Soccer National Tournament.
With the win, the Fire (14-3-2) will take on Westmont (15-0-3) on Saturday at 6 p.m. with the winner advancing to the final site in Orange Beach, Ala.
In the 36
th minute,
Naira Lopez hit a corner kick that went off the back of a defender and across the goal line to give the Fire a 1-0 lead on an own goal.
Just over two minutes into the second half,
Mason Schilling was tripped in the box to give the Fire a penalty kick which was converted by Lopez for her 11
th goal of the season. Less than 10 minutes later,
Karissa King was tripped just inside the box to generate another penalty kick converted by freshman
Ariadna Lozano for her sixth of the season.
In the 62
nd minute of play, Lozano took a feed from the right wing from
Katie Carnes and found the back of the net for her seventh goal of the year.
"To see Ariadna come in and see the pace of the game, get to the pace of the game and then change the game in a few minutes was impressive," said Roberts. "She gets excited and brings a shot of energy to the team."
Holly Eddins picked up her sixth shutout of the season with four saves which included one in the 85
th minute to preserve the shutout and helped defend two late corner kicks to keep the Grizzlies (5-8-7) off the scoreboard.
"We got to play a number of girls tonight and they all performed really well and worked really hard," said Roberts.
