JACKSON, Miss. – Alana Hughes finished with her first career hat trick Sunday, helping the No. 7/11 Centre women's soccer team wallop Millsaps by a 7-0 margin at Harper Davis Field to secure the Southern Athletic Association regular season crown.
The Colonels improve to 17-0 overall and 6-0 in the SAA, assuring the program's fifth consecutive regular season conference championships. The host Majors fall to 3-11 and 0-6 in-conference.
Hughes, who has multiple two-goal matches in her prolific career at Centre, finishes with her first collegiate hat trick and has seven goals across the past four outings.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Hughes opened the onslaught in just the fifth minute, getting an assist from
Annie Stauffer for the match's first goal.
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Kristin Dean cleaned up a pass from
Taylor Gebhart in the 18th minute, lifting the lead to 2-0 while tallying her sixth goal of the season.
- Centre carried the 2-0 advantage into the half while allowing just one off-target shot from Millsaps across the opening 45 minutes.
- The Colonels went off for five goals in the second half, beginning with Gebhart's score less than two minutes in on Stauffer's second helper.
- Hughes would score twice in quick succession later in the period, getting assists from
Meghan Paynter and
Sarah Sirkin to mark her first career three-goal performance.
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Elizabeth Nelson and
Rachael Boule each scored before the final whistle, the latter on an assist from
Mills Mullen.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Hughes, the conference's reigning Offensive Player of the Year, has been on fire recently. She has 17 total points in the past four matches and is coming off an Offensive Player of the Week nod.
- As they have done all season, the Colonels overwhelmed possession to the tune of a 39-3 advantage in total shots. They would finish with 14 corner attempts to the Majors' one.
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Jonelle Barron and
Sarah Stodghill each saw time in goal for Centre.
- The Colonels have gone more than five years without a loss to a team from the SAA. Their last defeat was back on Oct. 19, 2014.
UP NEXT
Centre returns home next Saturday, Oct. 26, hosting Sewanee in the regular season finale at Andrew P. Amend Field. First kick on the Colonels' Senior Day is scheduled for 2 p.m.
