Photo by Bethany Morris
Eight goals are an impressive amount in a game but that’s not the only impressive thing that happened during the women’s soccer game on Sunday. Junior midfielder Jenny Caracheo scored three of the Golden Eagle’s eight goals within the first 45 minutes of the game. Caracheo’s “Hat Trick” at the 22:00 minute mark played a huge impact in the outcome of the game.
“We passed the ball quickly which led to the hat trick. I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Caracheo said. “We were combing out there and it really made the opportunities come. Poh had a great through ball that led to my second goal and really made scoring the easy part.”
Alice Campos had two goals for the game and Hailey Pohevitz, Mackenzie Hamilton and Ariel Diaz picked up one goal each as well.
“During practice this week we really focused on passing and working together as a team which led us to a big win going into next week,” Caracheo said. “Auburn will be tough but if we play together as a team and work hard during practice, I believe we will do well.”
The Golden Eagles played well offensively but punched a shut out defensively. Allowing Mississippi Valley no goals through the full 90 minute match was a huge boost of confidence for the players going into next week’s schedule.
“Keeping the pace up front really helped us defensively. Our front line was able to control the ball in the front half of the pitch which helped the defensive line to stay back and play solid defense,” head coach Mohammed El-Zare said. “Going into this game we wanted to strike early and keep the tempo up which we did well and led us to the win today.”
Mississippi Valley only had one shot throughout the game compared to Southern Miss’s total of 36. Campos led the Golden Eagles with nine shots and Diaz followed with six.
“Being able to keep the tempo high pace allowed us the opportunity to give some playing time to some young talent while allowing us to rest our more seasoned players which is a great thing for us heading into next week.” El-Zare said, “Auburn will be a tough matchup, but we will work on changing our strategy this week in practice to give us a better chance of picking up a win over an SEC school.”The Golden Eagles improve their record 3-3 by picking up the 8-0 win over the Delta Devils. Southern Miss will travel to Auburn on Friday, Sept. 16th.
