EDWARDSVILLE - SIUE women's soccer honored their 11 seniors with a dominant performance on Sunday afternoon, claiming a 5-0 win over the Austin Peay Governors.

The opening half saw the Cougars attempt to find their footing, as the SIUE defense stood strong for the first 45 minutes. The backline did not allow the Govs to take a single shot in the opening half. The Red & White put up 10 shots in the first frame, but none more important than a 30th minute strike from Lily Schnieders to kickstart the SIUE scoring. The 1-0 scoreline would stand until 56th minute, when senior Angel Ikeda bent a picture-perfect strike into the top corner of net to score her second of the 2021 season. The Cougars would net their third goal in the 65th minute, as senior MacKenzie Litzsinger took a pass from Sidney Christopher and netted her seventh goal of the campaign. SIUE would strike again in the 85th minute, as true freshman Grace Cobb scored her first collegiate goal on a pass from Kayla Klipsch to extend the Cougar lead to four. The barrage of goals continued just two minutes later, as true freshman Kaitlyn Nichols notched her second of the season to give the Cougars the final 5-0 victory.

"We kept the level of performance high for 90 minutes today," said SIUE Head Coach Derek Burton following the match. "Exactly what we needed to help move on from a couple losses. We asked the team to keep the level high like Thursday's game (at Murray State) and they did."

All 11 seniors saw action in the contest, including senior goalkeepers Bella Henderson and Jensen Schoch, who put together a combined shutout. Henderson stood between the sticks for the first 45 minutes before Schoch took the pitch for the final 45.

As a team, the Cougars registered a season-high 28 shots - the most in a match since Aug. 31, 2018. In addition, SIUE took 10 corners, including a season-best six in the first half.

The Cougars, who improve to 6-6 overall and 3-2 in OVC play, will return to action in less than 48 hours to play against in-state foe Eastern Illinois. The match on Tuesday was rescheduled following the postponement of the originally-scheduled match on Oct. 7.

"Delighted to have a great result on the day we honored an incredible class of senior student-athletes that have been incredible examples of how to do things the right way, compete at a high level, and be great teammates along the way."

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