The Lamar women’s soccer team secured their second win of the young season, Sept. 7, thanks to two first half goals by Cardinal midfielder Kaitlyn Niemeyer. LU defeated Texas Southern University 4-1 at the LU Soccer Complex.
Coming off the bench in the 25th minute, Niemeyer immediately made an impact by scoring her first goal just seven minutes in, assisted by midfielder Riley Wilson.
“I was happy because it’s my secondcollegiate goal,” Nieyemer said. “It came off smoothly. It went to the back post, came off my left foot, and I’m just excited to get on the board coming in as a game changer right away.”
Nieyemer’s scoring didn’t stop there as she added another goal three minutes later, shooting from the left midfield to make the game 2-0. The goal was assisted by midfielder Cena Carlson.
“That one, I was just shocked that I scored a second one,” Nieyemer said. “I’ve been dealing with a lot of tough things. So, it was like back-to-back goals just made me feel extremely excited about this and the season to come.”
Scoring slowed down for LU, but after a couple of substitutions, the Lady Cards got back on the scoreboard with forward Anneliese Switzer scoring in the 51st minute to make it 3-1. Two minutes later, TSU scored their only goal of the game.
For most of the second half Lamar retained possession, dominating with their defense and controlling the ball. Midfielder Mariana Cardenas was the last Cardinal to put the ball in the back of the net, scoring in the 85th minute assisted by Carlson.
Lamar attempted 21 shots in the game compared to TSU’s nine, outshooting them by eight in the first half.
Carlson assisted twice in the game and Wilson put up one.
After a tough start to the season, Lamar has gained much needed momentum as they prepare for Southland conference play with just one non-conference game left.
“Three of our four losses have come to teams that won their conference last year,” Lamar head coach Nathan Kogut said. “That was what we wanted to do. We wanted to play teams who played a style that we wouldn’t see and that’s what we’ve told our girls. We’re playing a tough schedule, so that by the time we get to conference play, those 11 games aren’t going to present the same problems because we’ve already seen it done at a higher level.”
Despite the win, Coach Kogut says he still wants to see more from the team.
“I think that we left some meat on the bone,” Kogut said. “There were some moments that were really good and there are some moments where I wish we would have been a little bit more clinical, a little bit more decisive. But it was nice to see a lot of kids playing at a high level.”
Lamar returns home for their last non-conference game against The University of Louisiana-Lafayette, Sept. 12, at the LU Soccer Complex.
