Final Stats

LA Tech vs. USM box

LA Tech season stats

HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- The Louisiana Tech soccer team had never scored a single goal in the three times it has played at Southern Miss.

That changed in the fourth meeting as the Lady Techsters took advantage of an early red card on the Golden Eagles to notch a 3-0 league victory on Sunday afternoon at the Southern Miss Soccer Complex.

With the win, LA Tech (9-1-1, 1-0 C-USA) extended its unbeaten streak to nine, its winning streak to seven and its record-breaking road winning streak to six.

"USM started of stronger, but we made some changes and it got us back into the game," head coach Kevin Sherry said. "The goal after the red card settled the team down and, even though Southern Miss put up a great fight, we managed to see the game through with two more goals late. It was not a perfect game though. We still have many things to improve on going forward in conference play."

The match was fairly even between the two teams through the first 25 minutes of action. The advantage quickly swung into the Lady Techsters favor in the 29th minute though when Southern Miss' Adriana Garcia was issued a straight red card on a take down from behind, forcing the Golden Eagles to play a man down the rest of the way.

It was only five minutes later when LA Tech capitalized. Junior college transfer Au'Dresha Spates received the through ball from Annabel Prior and put it past the opposing keeper on a low shot to near post. Spates, with her first career goal, became the 17th Lady Techster to score this season.

USM (5-2, 0-1 C-USA) would not go away quietly though. The Golden Eagles still managed to get off four more shots in the first half, but none were the equalizer.

LA Tech spent much of the second half searching for that insurance goal which included two shots off the crossbar. They ultimately got it in the 79th minute from freshman Jenna Dages who had a one-touch finish at back post after Kathryn Sloan beat her defender and crossed it in.

It was only one minute later that the lead ballooned to 3-0 in favor of the Lady Techsters when Dages again struck for another one-touch goal from close range, this time on the assist from Blakeney Latson who laid the pass off.

Dages increased her goal total to four this season, becoming the first LA Tech to play notch multiple goals in a league match on the road since Sloan did it in 2014.

The victory also marked the first time LA Tech has opened conference play with three points since 2011.

For the game, the Lady Techsters held a 20-11 shot advantage, five of those coming off the foot of Sloan. Getting the win in net was senior Kylee Seto who notched four saves for her 21st career shutout.

LA Tech returns to the pitch on Thursday, Sept. 22 when it hosts Rice at the Lady Techster Soccer Complex. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

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