Sept. 19, 2014BEAUMONT, Texas – Kimmy Albeno became the first Lamar Lady Cardinal to score 30 career goals, as her tally helped Lamar claim a 4-1 win over visiting Northwestern state in the Southland Conference women's soccer opener for both squads Friday.
Albeno, who leads Lamar with five goals this season, added an assist as Lamar (3-5 overall, 1-0) Southland) won back-to-back games for the first time this season.
“We're a good team when we play with confidence,” Lamar coach Orlando Cervantes said. “We played with a lot of confidence tonight.”
The Lady Cardinals held a 1-0 lead at halftime thanks to a tremendous individual effort by Mari Olastuen. Olastuen raced down the left side and beat a couple of defenders before rifling a shot by Northwestern State goalkeeper Alex Latham.
The score remained 1-0 until late in the game when the teams combined for four goals in a span of 4:11.
Jannet Hernandez gave Lamar a 2-0 lead when she scored on a rebound of an Olastuen shot with 12:14 remaining. Just 2:09 later Brooke Kirchhofer scored when she redirected a corner kick from Albeno.
Esdeina Gonzalez got Northwestern State (3-6, 0-1) on the board with 8:53 remaining when she took advantage of miscommunication in front of the Lamar goal. The Lady Demons's excitement didn't last long, as Albeno notched her milestone goal just 50 seconds later.
“It's disappointing to lose the shutout, especially on a bad goal,” Cervantes said. “But I'm not going to let that take away from a big night. This was a great win, and one that we really needed.”
Bailey Fontenot made three saves for Lamar as she picked up her 20th career victory, two shy of the record held by Jennifer Gibbs.
The Lady Cardinals return to action at 7 p.m. Friday when they travel to defending regular-season champion Stephen F. Austin to open a two-game road swing. Lamar is at Houston Baptist at 1 p.m. Sept. 28 before returning home to host Nicholls at 7 p.m. Oct. 3.
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