HAMMOND, La. – Southeastern Louisiana opens up its Southland Conference schedule Friday when the Lady Lions travel to Lake Charles to take on in-state rival McNeese at 7 p.m. at Cowgirl Field.

   Southeastern (2-4-1) is coming off a 1-1 tie with Louisiana-Monroe Sunday in its non-conference finale. Junior midfielder Maggie Ramsey scored the equalizer off a pass from junior defender Christina Cutura in the 61^st minute while freshman goalkeeper Michaela Hawthorn made eight saves.

   McNeese (4-2-1) blanked Prairie View, 4-0, on the road on Sunday. Freshman midfielder Anna Watson, junior defender Emilee Mayes, junior midfielder Nola Pickett and senior forward/midfielder Savannah LaRicci all scored for the Cowgirls. LaRicci and freshman forwards Maddie Neidig and Havana Johnson had assists. Redshirt-senior Annie Bravenec (two saves) and freshman Emma Roccaforte (six) combined on the shutout. 

   A link to live stats for Friday’s match, provided by McNeese, will be accessible on the Southeastern women’s soccer schedule page at www.LionSports.net.

GAME NOTES

Southeastern:

   Ramsey leads Southeastern and is tied for fifth in the Southland with three goals. She is also tied for the league lead with 25 shots and ranks first with 3.57 shots per match.

   Ramsey has now scored 20 goals in her career and needs two more to move into a tie with Karly Dagys (2009-12) for 10^th on the Lady Lions’ career list. She has also taken 152 shots and needs one more to tie Wanda Regan (1999-2002) for eighth and three more to tie Natalie Santana (2007-10) for seventh in Southeastern’s career standings.

   Hawthorn leads the conference and ranks seventh nationally with 49 saves. The Mississauga, Ontario native also is first in the Southland and 13^th in the nation with 7.00 saves per match. She is also tied for third in the league in shutouts (2), fifth in save percentage (.817) and ninth in goals against average (1.50).

   Southeastern has recorded a league-high 49 saves and is tied for fourth with two shutouts. The Lady Lions are tied for fifth in corners (29), sixth in goals against average (1.50) and shots (97) and eighth in goals (7), assists (6), points (20) and goals allowed (11).

   This will be the 33^rd meeting between Southeastern and McNeese, the third-most played series for the Lady Lions behind Stephen F. Austin (37) and Northwestern State (34). Southeastern leads the series 20-7-5 after having won the past six meetings, including a 3-1 win in Hammond in 2016. McNeese’s last win came in 2011, a 1-0 win in Hammond.

   Southeastern is 10-2-3 at McNeese and 4-0-1 in its last five trips to Lake Charles, including a 1-0 win in 2015. The Cowgirls’ last win at home in the series was a 1-0 victory in 2008.

McNeese:

   Johnson leads the Southland with nine points and is tied for the league lead with four goals.

   LaRicci was named the Southland’s Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday after recording six points in the Cowgirls’ 4-0 wins over Southern (Baton Rouge) and Prairie View. She scored a goal and added an assist in each match.

   LaRicci is third in the conference with 23 shots and is tied with Prickett for seventh with two assists.

   Roccaforte (0.28) and Bravenec (0.42) rank one-two in the conference in goals against average. Roccaforte (.952) is also first and Bravenec (.923) third in save percentage. Roccaforte is tied for third with two shutouts and is ninth with 20 saves. She and Bravenec are tied for ninth with 4.00 saves per match.

   McNeese is tied with Lamar atop the league with five shutouts, having blanked its past three opponents.

   The Cowgirls lead the league with two goals allowed and a 0.28 goals against average, a figure that ranks ninth nationally. McNeese has not allowed a goal in its four wins and the tie with the only goals coming in 1-0 losses to Louisiana Tech and at Air Force.

   The Cowgirls rank fourth in the conference in shots (115) and assists (10), tied for fifth in points (32), sixth in goals (11) and saves (35) and ninth in corners (23). McNeese is also sixth nationally with a .946 save percentage.

QUOTES

Southeastern head coach Chris McBride:

On opening with McNeese:

   “We’ve been working on a lot during the non-conference schedule to prepare us for conference. It’s going to be a really tough opening game for us. We play a McNeese squad that is 4-2-1 right now. They beat Louisiana-Lafayette, tied Wyoming and only lost to Air Force 1-0 and have won the last two. It’s a very strong team. Their forward (LaRicci) just got Conference Player of the Week and she’s scoring a bunch of goals. It’s going to be a very good start to the conference for us and hopefully we can have a good performance.”

On the keys for his squad:

   “Defensively, shutting down their forwards, Havana Johnson and Savannah LaRicci. They have a lot of firepower up front and that’s magnified by the results. We have to make sure defensively we are extremely disciplined and very well organized to shut them down as best as possible.”

UP NEXT

Southeastern returns home to host Abilene Christian in Southland action Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. in Strawberry Stadium. The first 100 fans will be able to receive a free ice cream cone for National Ice Cream Cone Day. The match is also Greek Night and Southeastern Greeks are invited to set up their couches/blankets in the north end zone.