Issue date: 10/16/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Pete Ridens Senior Katie Yearian makes a move on a Quincy defender during Sunday's game. The Cougars, now in sole possesion of first place, take on Saint Joseph's Oct. 19 on the road.

With three goals by junior Elizabeth Valenti and a strong defensive effort, the SIUE women's soccer team defeated 21st ranked Quincy 3-1 and jumped ahead of it in the Great Lakes Valley Conference to take sole possession of first place Sunday.

The win was the seventh in a row for the Cougars.

Cougars Head Coach Lynda Bowers said she thinks the win will give the team a little respect.

"I feel like we had it coming," she said. "We were looking to make our mark in the region and that's what we did."

The Cougars got four shots off without scoring before Valenti scored with 24:37 left in the first period. Junior Kelly Limpert had the assist on the goal.

That would be the only goal in the first half as SIUE took a 1-0 lead into the second half.

Quincy threatened to score early in the second half but the Cougars defense kept the Lady Hawks from scoring.

Bowers praised the defense for its effort and also happy with sophomore Kelley Humphrey's play.

"Kelley Humphrey has been our anchor all year long and really held things together for us," she said.

Valenti scored her second goal of the game unassisted from 30 yards out just over six minutes into the second half, extending the Cougars' lead to 2-0.

Valenti scored her third goal of the game on a five-yard shot with just under 10 minutes left in the game to make the Cougars lead 3-0. Freshman Kiara Akpore got the assist. Bowers said Valenti was questionable coming into the game because of an ankle injury and called her performance a Cinderella story.

The injury occurred Wednesday. Valenti said she rolled her ankle in practice but rehabbed three times a day and credited the trainers for helping her. She said she was not going to sit the game out.

"I wasn't missing this game for my team," she said. "Games like this, you don't really feel much pain."

Valenti was happy with her career best three-goal performance, but was just as happy to get the win.

"It feels awesome just being able to do that for my teammates," she said. "I was just the one to finish the plays," adding that it was nice to have the performance and win against Quincy.

Humphrey said the team was ready for Quincy.

"They're pretty much the game we look for every year," she said.

Quincy sophomore Becky Fleming scored with almost three minutes left in the game to make the score 3-1.

Humphrey said the defense had an incredible effort and that everything is coming together when it needs to after a shaky start to the season.

"We kind of started out shaky in the beginning and we set a goal to win conference and that's what we're working for," she said. "Today was a big step in that."

The Cougars improved to 9-2 in GLVC play and 10-3-1 overall, taking a one-game lead over Quincy in the conference. They play again 6 p.m Wednesday against McKendree University at Korte Stadium.

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