HATTIESBURG, Miss. – #5 William Carey outlasted the rain to defeat LSU-Alexandria 7-0 in their season opener Thursday night at Danny Owens.
 
The Lady Crusaders wasted no time getting their season underway as they went ahead within the first ten minutes. A stampeding run from Argentina Estrada from right back to the edge of the Generals' box created the first chance for Carey. After a few ricochets off both WCU & LSUA players legs, the ball fell to the feet of freshman Kayla Martin who slotted the ball past LSUA goalkeeper Meike Van Straten to open her account for the Crusaders.
 
Martin wasted no time doubling her tally for the game as she slotted into an empty net from two yards out to put the Lady Crusaders 2-0 up. A jinking run from another freshman, Lauren Entremont, down the right-hand side allowed her to square the ball to Martin in the middle of the 6-yard box for an easy tap-in.
 
30 minutes in and Carey were 3 goals to the good. Some excellent intra-play between Estrada, Virginia Mesa, & Karen Vilau resulted in Vilau testing the keeper from just inside the box. Van Straten parried the ball back to the feet of Lesley Vasquez who rifled the ball into the roof of the net.
 
Carey kept up their average of scoring, scoring every ten minutes as they scored their 4th just before the 40-minute mark. Excellent hold-up play from Mesa allowed her to find Entremont on the right-hand side. Another mazy run from the freshman allowed her to create enough space to unleash a fierce shot across goal and find the bottom left-hand corner, courtesy of the post.
 
LSUA's best chance of the half came off a well-worked and crafty free kick routine but was unable to find its way past Nerea Pallas in the Lady Crusader's net.
 
Carey picked up where they left off in the first half, picking up their fifth goal of night, as Estrada dribbled to the near post and fired a shot to the bottom right corner. However, the ball just grazed the post and deflected to the feet of Entremont who deposited the ball into the empty net. For the next 18 minutes, the Lady Crusaders controlled the ball, taking six more shots but were unable to find the back of the net. A corner kick by WCU in the 63^rd minute would be the last play on the field, as lighting and rain moved in, halting the game for almost an hour.
 
After the delay, the Lady Crusaders wasted no time extending their lead. After a throw in from the near corner Lesley Vasquez sent a brilliant cross right into the middle of the box for Mesa who headed home the cross to make it 6-0 WCU. Less than a minute later, Mesa played the ball from the far corner of the 18-yard box to the middle for Kokona Nishikawa who let loose a shot that found its way into the net after clipping the inside of the left post for the final margin.
 
Carey returns to action Tuesday, August 26, as they take on the Pilots of LSU-Shreveport, play is to get underway at 5:00 pm at Danny Owens Field.