MORROW, Ga. – Clayton State (5-3-1, 2-2-1 PBC) got on the board early and kept firing away while the defense refused to allow any offensive foothold as they downed USC Aiken (1-9-0, 1-4-0 PBC) by a 3-0 score in an NCAA Division II women's soccer game on Wednesday, October 16.
 
The Lakers would waste no time as they replicated the 1-0 lead they had in the rained out contest, this time finding the back of the net at the 1:13 mark. That would come off the same foot of the goal scorer in that game as sophomore midfielder Pia Haug (Ytre Enebakk, Norway) found senior midfielder Manoly Baquerizo (Guayaquil, Ecuador) for the go-ahead score.
 
While the score would stay that way over the next nearly 43 minutes, it would not be for lack of offensive attempts. The Lakers would finish the opening frame with a whopping 21 shots, one of which would come from sophomore forward Isabel Massa (Caracas, Venezuela) with 44:11 gone by. She would take a pass from Baquerizo in front of the net and fire it to the upper right corner to double the lead.
 
That 2-0 margin would hold to and through halftime despite Clayton State keeping up the offensive pressure. They would finally benefit again from those efforts as they picked up a corner kick in the 85^th minute.
 
Sophomore midfielder Moa Loftman (Karlstad, Sweden) drove the ball to the far post where senior defender Janne Brouer (Aarhus, Denmark) put a head on it for her team leading fifth goal, this one at 84:49. For Loftman, she extended her team lead to five assists and that score would put the finishing touches on the Lakers 3-0 victory.
 
The Pacers registered six shots on the night, only two on net, and both of the latter came from Lindsay Larisa off the bench. No other player had more than one shot. Madi Banks started in net, playing the first half and surrendering two goals against eight saves. She falls to 0-5 on the year while MaKenzie Maxwell relieved her at the start of the second half. She allowed one goal and made six saves.
 
Baquerizo led the way for Clayton State as she notched a goal and an assist, marking the fourth game in her last five that she has recorded a point. On top of that, she registered a career-high 13 shots and put six of them on net. She was joined by Brouer and Massa in the scoring column while Loftman and Haug added an assist apiece.
 
Having posted five games of allowing just one goal, junior goalkeeper Valentina Bonaiuto (Valencia, Venezuela) finally broke through with her first shutout as a Laker. She played all 90 minutes and made a pair of saves to come away with the clean sheet. She moves to 5-3-1 on the year.
 
As a team, Clayton State fired off 38 shots and put 17 on frame. That shot total is not only a season high but is the most they have produced since firing off 41 against Georgia Southwestern on October 11, 2017.
 
The Lakers return to action on Saturday, October 19 when they host UNC Pembroke. Game time is set for 1 p.m. at Laker Field.
 
NOTES
The game was a makeup from a rain out on September 28.


FULL GAME VIDEO