Alabama A&M will meet the Tigers for the first round of the SWAC tournament. GSU ATHLETICS/Courtesy photo
The Grambling State women’s soccer team took on the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday, Nov. 1 at the Grambling State Soccer Complex.
This was the last game of conference play and the ladies were looking to end it on a good note.
Coming into this game, the team suffered a loss at Prairie View 0-2, who is currently second in the conference standings.
Going into the SWAC Tournament next week the Lady Tigers were in need of a win to gain back some momentum.
GSU came into the game ready to play. They were the obvious aggressors, spraying the other team with a total of 37 shots on goal and 17 on target.
The defense of the Lady Tigers was smothering, allowing just three shots and only two on goal. Sophomore Haylee O’Leary got the Tigers on the board first with a goal assisted by Lindsay Jaiyesimi.
By halftime, the Lady Tigers had the lead 1-0 and were completely dominating Pine Bluff.
Closing the half out, GSU stayed on the attack continuing to get more shots on goal. With the aggression, the team was able to earn a penalty kick.
Senior Florence David found herself with a chance to capitalize and extend the team lead, which is exactly what she did. Slotting the ball in the bottom corner, the team went up 2-0 on the Golden Lions.
“I think that as a team we finished SWAC play well,” Haylee O’Leary said. “We were pinging the ball and getting into the attack more often in our last game against Pine Bluff even though we should have scored more on our opportunities. We wanted to use that game as a tune up for playoffs, so we’ve learned from the mistakes that we made and are ready for Houston.”
The Tigers will be going up against Alabama A&M in the first round of the conference tournament.
The Tigers took 1-0 a loss to A&M in their prior meeting this year.
“We are excited for the Alabama A&M rematch,” O’Leary added. “We all thought that we could have played smarter that game by not letting them score on us first. Our coaches have prepared us for everything, so the tournament is just an opportunity to show that we can play and get a win round 1.”
The Lady Tigers have dominated SWAC play, recording 24 goals with 213 shots in their conference games and giving them the second best offense in all of the SWAC.
On the defensive end, the team allowed just 8 goals from opponents, making them third in defense in the conference. They’ll head to host school Prairie View A&M to begin the first round. The matchup will begin at 12:30 against Alabama A&M as the team hopes to get their revenge and dominate at the SWAC tournament.