Colonels’ soccer keeps postseason hopes alive

The Nicholls State University soccer team finished their season at home the way they started it, with two consecutive wins.

The first of these matches came in the form of a 2-1 victory against Stephen F. Austin State University, one of the top teams in the Southland Conference. The Colonels then defeated Sam Houston by a score of 3-0, their largest win since they beat Grambling 10-0 on September 4.

“We managed to get two good performances back to back,” Nicholls soccer Head Coach Michael McBride said.

In the game against SFA, sophomore midfielder Haylee Atwell scored the Colonels’ only point in the last five minutes of the game. Before their matchup, Stephen F. Austin was sitting at second place in the conference, with the Colonels at eleventh. Previously, the only other Southland Conference victory Nicholls came against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.

Nicholls was able to follow up the home win with another victory against Sam Houston. Kristy Helmers was responsible for two of the Colonels’ three goals, with Hannah Savoie contributing with a score of her own. Jess Coates assisted on each of the three goals, her highest number in a single game all season.

After the two victories, Nicholls has an overall record of 6-6-1. The Colonels have achieved five of their six wins at home, only having one road victory so far this season.

“If we can continue this process and we can improve, then we can compete with most teams,” McBride said.

McBride indicated that the Colonels have struggled with inconsistency for much of the season, so putting together two wins at home was a welcome change of pace.

“I really think the preparation and the tactical plan that the players followed was done almost as perfectly as it could have possibly been. We feel as though things that we’ve worked on and practiced, in particular the way that we defend, we have actually seen that in games,” McBride said.

While Nicholls has finished playing at home this season, the Colonels still have three away games left to play. With their two most recent victories, Nicholls has cemented the possibility of postseason play should they be able to perform well in their final regular season matches.