EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. - SIUE women's soccer turned in its top offensive performance of the season Sunday, besting Western Illinois 4-2 at Korte Stadium.

"I'm really, really happy for the players," said SIUE Head Coach Derek Burton. "We've been working extremely hard without that reward several games in a row."

The Cougars improved to 5-5-4 overall and 3-1-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference. SIUE now stands tied for third place in the OVC standings with two games to play. Next week the Cougars travel to UT Martin for a Thursday contest followed by the regular season home finale next Sunday against Morehead State.

Two scores in 27 seconds provided a 2-0 lead at halftime.

Jay Viola opened the scoring at 35:58 as she was in the goalie box and delivered a tap in after Kasey Neidhardt headed the ball into the goalmouth off a corner kick from Sidney Christopher.

Christopher scored seconds later at 36:25, her team-leading third goal of the season, from close range off a pass from Kaitlyn Nichols.

"She's an unbelieveable player," said Burton of Christopher. "She is a competitor on top of being skilled. She's a great teammate. I love seeing her flourish."

Christopher would finish the day with a goal and two assists.

In the second half, SIUE turned up the pressure as Aleah Minehardt and Kaitlyn Nichols added goals at 52:20 and 62:32, respectively,

SIUE's pressure gave it a distinct advantage on possession time while scoring a season-best four goals.

"The game plan was to take their out of how they prefer to play," said Burton.

Western Illinois would score late in the game on a pair of penalty kicks by Sachiko Gamo.




SIUE Alumni Celebrate Homecoming (photo courtesy of Melissa Diekema)