Jackson's Brace Leads WKU Past Southern Illinois, 3-0

Friday, September 13

Bowling Green, Ky.

6 P.M. CT

Western Kentucky University

3-2-1, 0-0-0

Southern Illinois

3-4-1, 0-0-0

Southern Ill.

Western Ky.

9/13/2019 9:46:00 PM | Women's Soccer

Box Score Box Score

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – Making just her second career start and first since 2017, redshirt sophomore Deven Jackson found the back of the net twice on Friday evening as WKU downed Southern Illinois, 3-0, at the Soccer Complex to continue its program-record homestand.

Jackson's two goals were the first of her career on The Hill, and Ambere Barnett started the night's scoring for the Lady Toppers to reach the final 3-0 scoreline. Ansley Cate dished out the assist on Barnett's opening goal, and Barnett added an assist of her own on Jackson's first goal of the evening.

WKU (3-2-1) was dominant from the start, outshooting Southern Illinois 29-4 on the night and holding the Salukis (3-4-1), a first-year Division I program, without a shot on goal. The Lady Toppers peppered the pair of Salukis in goal with 11 shots on goal, with Jackson, Barnett, Ashley Leonard and Isidora Pekez each notching a pair on frame. WKU also held a significant edge in corner kick opportunities, outcornering the Salukis by an 11-1 margin.

Barnett led all players on the night with nine shots on the night, and Leonard followed closely behind with six shots of her own. Liz Brechtel led the Salukis with a team-high three shots.

In goal, Anne-Marie Ulliac played the full match between the posts for the Lady Toppers and earned the shutout without having to make a save. Dariana Mihalache made seven saves in 64 minutes for Southern Illinois but also surrendered WKU's three goals; Maddy Alaluf finished out the final 26 minutes and did not allow a goal.

Friday night featured a strong gathering of WKU alumni for the match, including two members of Southern Illinois' coaching staff. Head Coach Grant Williams was previously a volunteer assistant coach for the Lady Toppers from 2006-09, and assistant coach Libby Stout (2008-11) stands alone atop nearly every WKU goalkeeping record, including program records for minutes (6,878), wins (45), goals against average (0.68), shutouts (39) and single-season saves (109).

Also attending Friday's match was Mallory Outerbridge, a member of the Lady Toppers from 2007-11 who still holds the program records for both goals (39) and total points (91). Outerbridge also netted 19 match-winning goals and had 219 shots, also still a school record. Other alumni in attendance included Sydney Doughty (2009-13), who currently does play-by-play commentary on WKU's Facebook streams, Lindsey Robbins (2008-11), Kelsey Meyer (2008-11) and Katrina Ott (2010-11), all of whom helped the Lady Toppers to reach at least one Sun Belt Tournament championship match.

More recent alumni included Andrea Larsen (2014-17) and Megan Morris (2015-18), who combined to help lead WKU to a third-place finish in C-USA during the 2016 campaign, the Lady Toppers' best conference finish since joining the league.

"It's always enjoyable and humbling to have alumni and colleagues return to The Hill. We've had some great memories both on and off the field. I am forever grateful and indebted for the time and energy that they all put in to build this soccer program the right way. I am especially excited to watch and support Grant Williams and Libby Stout as they build a new program at Southern Illinois from the ground up," Head Coach Jason Neidell said.

WKU jumped out in front with two quick goals in just over 10 minutes to open the match. Set up by a short pass from Cate, Barnett was able to chip over the charging Mihalache and easily find the back of the net to open the scoring in the eighth minute, and Jackson doubled the lead just over three minutes later. Barnett slipped in a pass up the middle and the New Zealander buried it past the goalkeeper to give WKU the 2-0 advantage.

Pekez nearly added another strike for the Lady Toppers just before the halftime break with a pair of shots on goal, but could not convert as WKU carried its two-goal lead into the locker room.

To open the second half, Jackson pounced on a miscue by Mihalache to add her second goal of the night. The goalkeeper attempted to clear out a shot, but the clearance ricocheted off a defender and fell right to the feet of Jackson, who was left with a wide open goal.

Though WKU had several more scoring opportunities, the Lady Toppers were unable to add to their impressive tally on the night, although WKU was able to complete the shutout against the Salukis, its fourth shutout in six matches to start the 2019 campaign.

WKU will be back in action at the Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. as the Lady Toppers welcome Alabama A&M to continue their seven-match homestand. The two sides will be meeting for the first time since 2002, with WKU winning the only other pair of meetings against the Bulldogs, both by 2-0 scorelines, in the program's first two years of existence in 2001 and 2002.