HARTSVILLE, S.C. — The good mojo kept flowing Saturday.
Fresh off two wins, the Lincoln Memorial University women's soccer team added to it at Coker Athletic Field as the Lady Railsplitters scored early and never let up en route to a South Atlantic Conference, 3-0, victory over the Cobras for their third straight win.
Jessica Cravero, the reigning AstroTurf SAC Offensive Player of the Week, stayed red-hot, scoring her fourth career hat trick at LMU (12-4, 5-4 SAC) and second versus the Cobras (1-14, 0-9) to push her to a team and league-high 15 goals on the season.
The Italian is heating up and connecting with her teammates at the right time with the regular season winding down as the sophomore has netted seven of those scores through the past three games.
"She's getting into the right areas in the box but more so she is contributing better in the buildup," said LMU head coach
Sean Fraser of the star forward . "Her hold up play, and ability to bring both wide players into the game is something that is improving and that is what is directly impacting her goal tally."
The first came via
Itzel Ballesteros' fifth assist on the year. In the 13th minute, the senior found Cravero 40 yards from the goal as she controlled the pass, dribbled by the defender and put home her first of three.
"I believe the connection between me and Itzy is better too," Cravero said. "I think she's a great forward — the best I've ever played with. She's a senior, and I hope we'll win the SAC Tournament and we'll go to the NCAA Tournament for her and all the other seniors, which I think they deserve to reach it!"
The next two came from the same person who helped Cravero score her pair of goals last week:
Thenia Zervas. The transfer, who garnered her first AstroTurf SAC Defensive Player of the Week award last week, continues to be unstoppable with her sends from the left side, finding Cravero in the 28th minute and again at the 52nd-minute mark to cap the 3-nil score.
Following a three-assist outing versus Newberry, Zervas followed it up with a two-assist day —where she crossed both passes in the middle to lead Cravero up and past the defenders — to push her to a team and league-high 15 assists on the season to complement Cravero's same amount of goals. Zervas' 15 assists also marks a new single-season record for assists, surpassing the previous-best 13 that was held by Heloisa de Oliveira (2006) and Yolanda Janiga (1997).
"I believe in the past two games me and Thenia are more connected; we understand each other better," Cravero said. "I'm very happy to have scored these seven goals; I've missed it!! Also, I'm very happy for Thenia because she's has such big potential and every time she sends the ball perfectly to the right spot, so I'm happy her "assists stats" are going up! Also, us like a team, we're growing and getting better in many aspects as you can see from the results of our games!"
Overall, the Lady Railsplitters controlled every facet of the match, getting off 24 shots (13 on goal) compared to Coker's two (one on goal), while having eight corners to the Cobras' one to run away with their second consecutive victory over Coker. Over the past two matchups, LMU has defeated the Cobras 8-0 with Cravero scoring six of those goals.
"We controlled the pace of the game and had good possession," Fraser said, "we managed to get the ball into the areas we needed and create some good chances! I'm pleased with that, but we need to develop our concentration even more and stay alert for counter attacks and such if and when we give the ball away. I thought the energy levels were good today and that was a big reason for our ability to possess the ball."
Up Next: The Lady Railsplitters will aim to keep it going at 1 p.m. Wednesday when they conclude their regular season versus Mars Hill for Senior Day.
Stay tuned to
LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for complete coverage of the LMU soccer teams through the 2019 season.
