BATON ROUGE, LA — Southern University women's soccer broke through in emphatic fashion Thursday, overwhelming Arkansas-Pine Bluff 8-0 at A.W. Mumford Stadium for its first Southwestern Athletic Conference victory of the season.
The Lady Jaguars scored four goals in each half and controlled the match from beginning to end. Southern outshot UAPB 34-1, including a 19-1 advantage in shots on goal, while holding 66% of the possession. The victory improved Southern to 1-7-1 overall and 1-1 in SWAC play, while Arkansas-Pine Bluff fell to 1-8 and 0-2.
Keilyn Pittman started the scoring just 6 minutes, 2 seconds into the match, finishing an assist from Gia Johnson. Jazmyn Blake-Jackson doubled the advantage in the 14th minute off a feed from J'Lea Berry before Alba Carcamo-Alvarado made it 3-0 at 18:47, again assisted by Berry.
Brooke Atkins added Southern's fourth goal in the 38th minute, sending the Lady Jaguars into halftime with a commanding 4-0 advantage. Southern generated 20 shots in the opening 45 minutes while not allowing UAPB to record one.
The pressure continued almost immediately after halftime. Berry scored at 49:11 off Johnson's second assist of the match to push the lead to 5-0. Kyndell Letcher followed with an unassisted goal in the 68th minute.
Dajonae Pinto converted Letcher's assist at 72:12 before Atkins completed the scoring at 77:51 with her second goal of the night. Atkins was the only Southern player with multiple goals as seven Lady Jaguars found the net.
Southern's attack was balanced throughout the lineup. Johnson and Berry each recorded two assists, while Letcher added a goal and an assist. The Lady Jaguars finished with seven corner kicks to UAPB's one and forced goalkeeper Arie Parker to make 11 saves.
The defense was equally dominant. Starting goalkeeper Sydney Whitten played the first half without facing a shot and helped secure the win. Sidney Wooldridge took over after halftime and made the Lady Jaguars' only save, denying McKinlee Butler in the 76th minute to preserve the shutout.
The eight-goal performance gave Southern its first win of the season and evened its conference record through two SWAC matches. The official box score listed an attendance of 387 for the match at A. W. Mumford Stadium.
