Sept. 6 marked the first victory of the young 2019 campaign for Sam Houston State University soccer. The Bearkats notched a convincing 5-0 win over the University of Arkansas- Pine Bluff Golden Lions thanks to goals from four different players.

Freshman forward Brooke Jones got the scoring started in the 11th minute with her first collegiate goal. Three minutes later, junior Courtney Pawlik got into the action with a goal of her own followed by an assist to Carlota-Suarez Crespo for SHSU’s third goal of the first period.

Crespo struck again in the 60th minute with her second goal of the match. Senior Katy Johnson found the back of the net in the 77th minute to put an exclamation point on the shutout.

“I thought we played well,” head coach Tom Brown said. “I was glad to see that the things we spent time on this week we saw in the game. It helps us going forward.”

The Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns came to Huntsville Nov. 8 and stole a dramatic 2-1 victory in double overtime.

“I’m disappointed with the way the game ended,” Brown said. “I thought we really didn’t play very well in the first half.”

The Bearkats have two more matches before conference play begins. SHSU will hit the road for both contests: the first coming Sept. 12 at Illinois-Chicago.

The squad will then make a short trip to Prairie View A&M Sept. 15.

“We’ve got to work on doing the right things,” Brown said. “We’ve got some very young players, so some of those mistakes…we need to cut down.”

SHSU will return to Pritchett Field Sept. 20 and open conference play with a 6:30 p.m. matchup against Central Arkansas– last year’s regular season SLC champions. The Kats will look for some revenge against the Sugar Bears, who handed the Kats a 5-0 defeat to open up conference play in 2018.