LAKE CHARLES - Heading into the regular season soccer finale, current third-seeded McNeese (8-6-3, 5-2-2 SLC) and second-seeded Texas A&M-Commerce (8-6-3, 6-1-2 SLC) are scheduled to matchup at 6 p.m. Friday night at Cowgirl Field in a battle for higher seeding.
"The last home match and senior day are always exciting," said head coach
Drew Fitzgerald. "This year we have the added excitement of playing a very dangerous Commerce team. They are well coached, have talented forwards, and a scorer on a hot streak."
Both teams met twice in the 2022 campaign with the Lions narrowly edging out the blue and gold 2-1 in both meetings.
"It is going to be a fun night at Cowgirl Field," concluded Fitzgerald.
Seniors that will be recognized at the match include Magalie Depot, Martine Ellefsen, Karissa Illingworth, Kiana Kukaua, Briana O'Dell, AnnMarie Snead, and Rachel Young.
During the senior's tenure, the seven have combined for 31 goals, eight of those being game-winning goals for the Cowgirls. The group has also earned 33 assists while donning the blue ang gold.
The Cowgirls and Lions are scheduled to kick off at 6 p.m. with live stats available to follow.
McNeese Notes
- Kaile Kukaua is one of nine known returners in D1 soccer to enter the season without a collegiate goal to go on to score multiple.
- Jackie Kelly is 11th in the nation with a save percentage of .881 which also leads the conference.
- McNeese holds the 10th-best shot accuracy percentage in the nation at .569.
- The team's save percentage of .857 places them 21st in Division I soccer.
- McNeese has outscored its opponents 28-17 thus far.
- The Cowgirls have the third-least goals scored on them this season in the conference at 17.
- Behind A&M-Commerce and Lamar, McNeese has the third-highest scoring average at 1.647 goals per match.
- Jackie Kelly earned her second SLC Goalkeeper of the Week honor (10/17) after posting a shutout against Northwestern State and allowing one goal to Southeastern. Her former honor came the week of 9/26 where she faced TAMU-CC and Nicholls.
- Alexi Pitt was the second player to earn SLC Defensive Player of the Week recognition (10/17) after scoring her first collegiate goal to tie Southeastern.
- Martine Ellefsen was named SLC Defensive Player of the Week (9/26) after scoring her first collegiate goal against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to force a tie.
- The Cowgirls have taken and made three penalty kicks this season after not having a single attempt a year ago.
- Morgan Fiedler is second in the conference with three game-winning goals which places her 56th in the nation.
Texas A&M-Commerce Notes/Series Record
- The Cowgirls and Lions have met four times in program history with the latter holding a 1-3 all-time advantage.
- Just one season after finishing runner-up in the SLC Tournament, the Lions are fighting for the second or third seed.
- Outside of conference play, the Lions have only seen one common opponent as McNeese in UTSA where they fell 1-4.
- The Lions tied the regular-season champions in Lamar 2-2 when playing just over a week ago.
