BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- The WKU women's soccer team started the 2015 season with a bang, scoring three goals in the first half to get the 3-1 win over UT Martin on Friday at the WKU Soccer Complex.
Hannah Chua got the Lady Toppers going with the first goal of the season off of a double assist from Chandler Clark and Nahyo Jalajel. Chua matched her career goal total with the punch-in in the 22nd minute. Iris Dunn added to the score in the 34th minute with a Hannah Cady and Lauren Moats assisted goal. Dunn now has 14 career goals for the Lady Toppers in her three years on the Hill. All three goals were scored within a 14 minute span.
"I thought Hannah Cady had an extraordinary debut tonight with a goal and an assist," said head coach Jason Neidell. "She was the difference in the game for us tonight."
Freshman Hannah Cady did make quite a debut in her first game as a Lady Topper. She scored the final goal of the night for WKU after streaking past two UT Martin defenders and finding the back of the net from a Dunn pass. The score was good for Cady's first career goal to add to her two shot, one assist stat line for the game.
UT Martin was unable to get a shot off in the first half, but came out in the second half much more aggressive with seven total shots as a team but no shots on goal. With about 10 seconds remaining in the game, Saphyra Coombs-James found the back of the net after a flurry of shots were blocked by WKU defenders.
The three WKU goals were the most goals in a season opener since 2007 when the Lady Toppers beat Georgetown College, 3-0 at home. WKU scored three total goals only two times last year in games against UTSA and Middle Tennessee. The Lady Toppers move to 10-5 in season openers and 12-2 in home openers along with the 1-0 start to the 2015 season.
WKU will next take on Miami (Ohio) on Sunday at 1:00 PM at WKU Soccer Complex. Miami first traveled to Vanderbilt on Friday where they topped the Commodores, 1-0. The Redhawks were picked to win the Mid-American Conference in the preseason poll after finishing second in the league last season. They return all but two starters but lost their leading scorer from 2014.
The first 50 fans to arrive for Sunday's match will be given a custom WKU scarf. Also, all Big Red Rascals and SKY Soccer Club players will receive free admission to the game and family members may purchase tickets at a discounted $3.
Season tickets are available online at wkusports.com or by calling the WKU ticket office at 1-800-5-BIGRED. A $25 flexible ticket package is available that includes all 10 home games against Xavier, Tennessee Martin, Miami Ohio, Valparaiso, Memphis, Rice, Louisiana Tech, FIU, Marshall and Florida Atlantic.
