MORROW, Ga. – Clayton State (5-6, 2-4 PBC) put its offensive prowess on display and controlled play for the entire game as they notched a 5-0 victory over Georgia Southwestern (0-10, 0-5 PBC) in an NCAA Division II women's soccer game on Wednesday, October 11.
 
The Lakers would essentially camp out in the offensive end for the better part of the game but it would take until the 12:39 mark for them to break through and get on the board. When they did it would be on a pass from senior forward Iciar Duran (Madrid, Spain) to the foot of freshman midfielder Ann-Cathrin Zabel (Schwarme, Germany), who proceeded to plant it into the back left corner of the net for a 1-0 advantage.
 
GSW would regain their defensive poise over the next 23 minutes before sophomore defender Manoly Baquerizo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) began an offensive surge that would run through the 88^th minute. With 35:44 gone by, she rifled a ball from the far right corner of the box to make it 2-0. While that would be the final score of the half, it would be only the beginning for the Lakers defender with a penchant for offense.
 
Nearly seven minutes into the second half she would strike again, this as sophomore midfielder Andrea Rodriguez (Monterrey, Mexico) passed in the from the left wing and found Baquerizo on the endline. From there she buried a shot into the upper right corner for a 3-0 margin and her second score of the day.
 
It would take another 36 minutes for her to find the twine again but find it she did. With 87:30 already played, she was awarded a free kick that was dangerously close to ending up as a penalty kick. As it was, she set up just outside the 18 yard line and drilled her third goal of the game to the upper left corner. That marks the first hat trick of her career.
 
Just when you thought the Lakers were done on the offensive end, the pair that started all the scoring came back for an encore as Duran crashed the goal with 1:19 left before dishing to the right to a waiting Zabel. Wasting none of the time that was left, the offensive minded freshman powered the ball past the keeper for her second score and to reach the final margin of 5-0.
 
The Hurricanes, who were outshot 41-2 on the day, were led by Michelle Gustavsen. She recorded both of those shots and put them on net. Sammie Conley started and played 82:41 in net, making 18 saves against three goals allowed to fall to 0-10. Ellie Cook took over for the final 7:19 and surrendered two goals with no saves.
 
Baquerizo led Clayton State with a career-best three goals on a career-high 12 shots while Zabel connected on two of her own to drive her season total to nine goals. Setting up both of the latter's scores was Duran, finishing the game with a career-high tying two helpers.
 
In goal, redshirt-senior goalkeeper Jessica Charman (Harefield, England) picked up the sixth shutout of her career, all in the last two seasons, as she made a pair of saves over 90 minutes. She improves to 4-5 on the year.
 
Coming off of an eight goal performance at Albany State (10/7), the program has made history with the highest scoring two game stretch by any team in the club's 23-year history. The 13 goals scored (eight at ASU, five today) eclipse the previous mark of 12 goals in a two game span.
 
That mark was set by the 1997 team that won 8-2 at Wesleyan on October 17 of that year and then 4-2 at Newberry on October 21.
 
The Lakers look to continue that high scoring output but it will have to wait a week as they do not return to action until Wednesday, October 18. That day they will host a good Young Harris (6-3-1, 3-1-1 PBC) at 5 p.m. at Laker Field.
 
NOTES
Clayton State is now a perfect 12-0 against the Hurricanes, dating to the first contest which was exactly 11 years ago to the day on October 11, 2006 … the Lakers picked up a 6-0 victory that day, still the largest in the history of the series … prior to the game a program record tying 75 Clayton State student-athletes were recognized for achieving at least a 3.0 GPA in the Spring 2017 semester … they will be recognized again with a breakfast on Friday, October 13.