BEAUMONT, Texas - With five straight wins, including the opening Southland Conference win over the University of Incarnate Word, Lamar University's soccer team returns to the LU Soccer Complex for their conference homer opener against Houston Christian University.
Cardinal Battle Round 1 to LU
LU increased their winning to five in a row after shutting out UIW's version of the Cardinals 2-0.
Cariel Ellis scored her fourth goal of the season and her second straight game-winner while
Payton Joost got her first career goal.
Nicole Panis nabbed four saves in the second-half to preserve the shutout.
Zero Point Zero Point Zero Point Zero Point Zero
LU's 2-0 win now means that they set a program record for five consecutive shutouts. The previous mark was four, which the Cardinals set on two different occasions in 2017 (Aug. 31-Sep. 10) and 2021 (Oct. 23-Nov. 3). In LU's current five-match shutout streak, they have scored 11 goals.
Sweeping Southland Weekly Awards
For their play last week,
Arely Alaniz (defensive), Ellis (offensive), and Panis (goalkeeper) each earned weekly honors from the SLC. This is the second straight week a Cardinal earned a weekly honor after
Hollie Massey won offensive player of the week honors.
The Eyes of The Nation Are Upon Us
Both Ellis and Panis were also given national awards for their play last week. With two game-winning goals, Ellis was also honored as part of College Soccer News' Team of the Week while Panis' 17 saves, including 13 against Xavier, got her Top Drawer Soccer's recognition as National Player of the Week and Team of the Week.
History vs. HCU
The Cardinals are 7-3-3 all-time against the Huskies and are in the midst of a six-match winning streak. Last season, LU defeated HCU twice. In the first meeting, the Cardinals won 3-0 its two of the goals from
Alana Clark and
Laura Linares while Ellis and Panis assisted on the third goal. Then, Linares netted the winning goal in a 1-0 victory at the SLC tournament semifinals.
Meet the Huskies
Coming off a 5-0 win over Nicholls, HCU is 3-4 overall and 1-0 in conference play. Winners of their last two matches, the Huskies are led by Alexa Huerta, who has four goals and one assist for nine total points. Olivia Rossman is the other multi-goal scorer having scored twice while both Xya Balderas and Lauren Avila each have two assists. Chloe Bagshaw has a goals against average of 3.09 with 19 saves while allowing 17 goals.
Next Up For LU
The Cardinals will travel to Louisiana for two road matches. First up is Nicholls on the 29th at 7:00 pm.
