NATCHITOCHES, La. – HCU women's soccer trailed 1-0 at the half but rallied with three goals in the final 20 minutes of the game to earn a big 3-1 Southland Conference road win over Northwestern State at the Lady Demon Soccer Complex on Thursday to push the Huskies' unbeaten streak to 10 and move into a four-way tie for second place in the league standings.
Olivia Rossman, Isabella Alamo and Isabella Dillow all put shots on goal within the first 22 minutes for the Huskies (7-3-5, 3-0-3 SLC). It took until the 41st minute for Northwestern State (7-7-0, 4-2-0 SLC) to put its first shot on goal with Emmy McKeon making the save on a shot by Iesha Rollins. Less than two minutes later, however, Tiana Cruz scored with an assist from Alexia Adimmah at the 42:09 mark.
After trailing at the half, the HUC offense started clicking in the final 20 minutes. Rossman had a shot stopped in the 72nd minute shortly before Alamo found the net off a rebound of an Ella Remy shot that hit the crossbar. Less than 30 seconds later, Rossman collected a ball near the penalty spot and quickly played it to Madison Stormberg who slotted a shot to the bottom right to put HCU ahead, 2-1. Goal number three came from Paisley Barela from about 15 yards out as she sent her shot over the NSU keeper and just under the cross bar to put the game out of reach.
Barela now has six goals on the season to lead the team and she is now tied with Alamo for the most goals in SLC play, with three each. Rossman, meanwhile, now has seven assists on the year and 14 for her career, ranking sixth in program history. Stormberg's goal was her fourth of the season and her second game-winner. McKeon finished the game with two saves to earn the win in goal.
HCU has now gone 10 matches without a loss, posting a 6-0-4 record during that stretch. The Huskies' last defeat came on Aug. 30 on the road against SMU. That 10-match unbeaten streak ties the 2014 SLC championship team that closed out the regular season and conference tournament by going 8-0-2 before falling to No. 3 Texas A&M in the NCAA Tournament.
The Huskies welcome East Texas A&M next Thursday, Oct. 22, for a matchup at Sorrels Field at 7:00 p.m.
