NATCHITOCHES—All Northwestern State needed was see one go into the back of the net.
After being shut out in the previous four halves, NSU (8-8, 5-3) exploded for three goals in the second half to post a 3-0 victory over Nicholls (5-5-6, 3-2-3) on Sunday in the annual Fork Cancer game at the Demon Soccer Complex.
Demons went without a goal for the first 64 minutes but made up for it with three goals in the next 6:18 to blow the game wide open and push the home team to the victory.
"I thought we were really good in the second half after a tough first half," head coach
Ian Brophy said. "We weren't at our best in the first half, and we challenged the team halftime to play better in the second half and make sure we do the little things right and have some confidence in themselves and I thought they did that in the second half.
"We played with a lot of confidence and played really well and connected well and saw our style of soccer come through. We took advantage of some great chances and scored three goals. I felt we could have had more, but I am happy we scored those three and took advantage of some good chances."
Tayla Crandell found the back of the net for the second time this season and it was quickly followed by goals in the 70
th minute by
Maliya Maldonado on a penalty kick and a goal from
Tiana Cruz a little over a minute later to put the finishing touches on the triumph.
With the victory and an East Texas A&M tie against McNeese, the Demons clinched a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament, which begins Nov. 10 in Commerce, Texas.
NSU dominated the second half but could not break through until Crandell's second goal of the season.
"We talked about how in the first half we weren't really connecting with our soccer and weren't really finding each other," Brophy said. "We were also losing too many individual matchups and we're a good team and we know we have great players, so we know we should win more of those matchups. In the second half, we won nine, 10 or all 11 of the matchups. We really challenged them to look at themselves and know they can perform better so much better."
Kendall Hemperley crossed it in and it was a bit too far for Crandell but rolled to
Alexia Adimmah and Adimmah crossed it back into the box for Crandell and she booted it in with her foot waist high in the middle of the box.
It was originally ruled offsides, but the officials reviewed it and called it a good goal.
"That goal really set the tone for the team in the second half," Crandell said. That helped us and we were able to build up from there and got two more goals after that."
The floodgates opened after that, as Adimmah drew a penalty kick on a foul in the box. Maldonado paid it off with a goal to the right side of the goal, as Nicholls goalkeeper Aislinn Wright was caught flat-footed.
Just 69 seconds later, Cruz put the finishing touches on the win with a goal in the box, as Hemperley sent a cross in and it was gathered and she put it home bottom right of the goal.
Hemperley created havoc all game and recorded two assists for her efforts.
"When I talk about winning individual matchups, Kendall won her's," Brophy said. "She gave those outside backs everything they could handle. That was really encouraging, seeing her get behind and taking them on and getting those balls in the box and gave us good opportunities and we finished a couple of them off."
Despite the scoreless first half, each team had chances.
Nicholls controlled the first part of the game and recorded a shot from Angelina Rispone just seconds not the game. The Colonels had five shot attempts in the first half, all of which came in the first 26:05.
The last one was saved by defender
Kate Bouck at the bottom left of the goal.
Bouck spearheaded the defense to pick up the shutout, as she made plays throughout the afternoon to boot the ball out of harm's way and preserve the team's third shutout of the season.
"Our midfield and defenders worked together to defend today, Bouck said. "Our midfielders all kept their marks, and we were able to communicate who needed to be where. It always feels good to have a clean sheet. We worked hard all game and just being able to help our team out in that way so they can score goals and win the game was great."
Next up is a trip to McNeese on Nov. 1 before heading home for the final game of the regular season against UTRGV on Nov. 5.
