MONROE, La. – Senior
Theoni Zerva scored a goal and added an assist while junior
Courtney Marten extended her school-record with her 12th goal of the season as the ULM soccer team picked up a weather-shortened 2-1 win over App State Friday night at Brown Stadium.
The match had just crossed into the 71st minute when lightning forced the match to be delayed. After a nearly hour-long delay, another lightning strike occurred just as players were about to take the field for a warm-up period. As a result, the match ended with 19:38 remaining on the clock.
ULM junior goalkeeper
Hailey Hillock made four saves, including three critical stops in the second half.
App State struck first. A free kick by Olivia Cohen went toward the goal. Hillock leaped to make a stop, but fell to the ground with the ball. After the ball popped free, Emma McGibany slid the ball to Sarah Widderich, who put the ball in the net for the opening goal. The Mountaineers led 1-0 in the 24th minute.
ULM answered quickly. Just three minutes later, freshman
Inge Konst popped up a pass to Zerva on the left side of the top of the box. Zerva knocked the ball down, gained control and fired a shot past App State keeper Kerry Eagleston and into the upper right corner of the net to tie the match at 1. It was Zerva's eighth goal of the season.
The Warhawks took the lead in the 38th minute. Zerva fed a pass to Marten at the top of the box. Eagleston came out to challenge, but Marten kicked the ball up and over Eagleston and it slowly rolled into the goal, putting ULM on top 2-1. It was Marten's Sun Belt Conference-leading 12th goal while Zerva tied the program's single-season assist record with her eighth of the season.
App State's Stephanie Barbosa fired a shot in the 40th minute, but Hillock punched it up and over the net to preserve the lead to halftime.
In the second half, ULM had a pair of early chances, but shots by Zerva and freshman
Mara Grutkamp were stopped by Eagleston.
In the 60th minute, Hillock went to work. McGibany received a pass inside the box and fired a shot, but Hillock made the save. In the 63rd minute, the Mountaineers found Breckyn Monteith in the box. Her first shot was stopped on a diving save by Hillock. Monteith got the rebound but sent her second shot wide of the net.
With weather looming, App had one more chance as Kirsten Seeley's shot was stopped again by Hillock. ULM had the final chance of the night as a cross by ULM graduate student
Aysha Bentick found
Efi Brame by the right post. Her header was deflected out by Eagleston, leading to a ULM corner kick. However, the match was delayed by lightning before the corner could be taken, just 22 seconds after becoming an official match.
Brame had five shots, with three on goal to lead ULM. App State's McGibany and Monteith had two shots, with one on goal, each.
ULM outshot App State, 13-7, and had a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal.
The Warhawks play their final non-conference match at 1 p.m. Sunday when they host Nicholls at Brown Stadium. Links to live video and stats are on the soccer schedule page at ULMWarhawks.com.
