HOUSTON, Texas - Traveling to Houston for their second to last road game of the season, Lamar University's soccer team gave the newly christened Houston Christian Huskies a clinic as they put together a 3-0 shutout. The win puts LU at 11-1-2 overall and 8-1-1 in the Southland Conference. An opportunity to clinch the regular season conference title remains at large for LU as all they need is a draw in the Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi game.

On this night, Alana Clark, Laura Linares, and Christine Kitaru (assist) set the tone scoring for Big Red. Carriel Ellis and Nicole Panis also had an assist in the match. Panis also made six saves off 13 shots from HCU to preserve the shutout.

Four minutes into the match, Clark would receive a pass from Kitaru to net her first goal of the season giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead. The Huskies did have a golden chance in the 12th minute to score as they were able to get past Panis and shoot towards an open net. But then, Arely Alaniz made a defensive play by clearing the ball out. LU finished the first half outshooting HCU 8-5 and took a 1-0 lead into the break.

LU drew a foul in the 53rd minute and would capitalize when Linares struck a free kick into the top right of the goal for a 2-0 lead. That would be one of four shots for the Cardinals as they would spend most of the second half playing a defensive battle while the Huskies fired eight shots. Panis would make three saves in the half to keep HCU off the scoreboard and it was only fitting that Kitaru would seal the victory with her 10th goal of the season on an assist from Ellis and Panis.

"This was a good win for our girls," said head coach Nathan Kogut. "To go on the road and do what we did just shows the preparation and concentration our girls put in this week. We had some good ball movement, created dangerous chances on the counter, and took advantage of our set pieces. It's a big step for this group and I can't be happier for them."

In the event the Cardinals are unable to clinch the regular season title tonight, they will travel to Corpus Christi to take on AMCC at 1:00 PM this Sunday.
 

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