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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Joplin, Mo.. -- It was a tale of two halves Saturday afternoon (Oct. 21), as the No. 24-ranked Missouri Southern Lions and Missouri Western Griffons battled to a scoreless tie in the first half, but the Lions quickly changed that with a goal from Lauren Kurelac (Blue Springs, Mo.) off an assist from Nikki Llewellyn (O'Fallon, Mo.) just 1:37 into the second stanza and the Lions cruised from that point in knocking off the Griffons 5-0. The win extends Southern's unbeaten streak to a school-record tying nine matches, which was set last season. The Lions improve to 9-3-4 on the season and 7-1-3 in the MIAA, while the Griffons remain winless in conference play at 0-11-1 and 1-13-3 overall. After Kurelac's goal, the floodgates opened as Jessica Harthcock (Boerne, Texas) scored an unassisted tally just over 11 minutes later to give Southern a two-goal advantage. Amy Davis (Fenton, Mo.) gave the Lions a three-goal cushion by finding the net off a corner kick from Erin Gfeller (Overland Park, Kan.) in the 72nd minute of the match. Stephanie Heines then scored off Llewellyn's second helper of the match in the 76th minute to make it 4-0 Lions. Southern wasn't quite done though as Gfeller decided to join the scoring fray just over two minutes later by kicking in a goal from an Angie Westphal (Skiatook, Okla.) helper to create the final margin of victory. The five goals and five goal margin of victory are both season highs for Southern. Lions goalkeeper Kaney Tyler (Topeka, Kan.) didn't need to do too much in the match, as the Griffons managed just one shot that Tyler turned away. Shaylynn Milbourn made eight saves for the Griffons. Erin Whelan (Belleville, Ill.) led the Lions with six shots and three shots-on-goal, while Llewellyn had five shot-attempts. Missouri Southern will celebrate Senior Day and look to make it a school-best 10 consecutive matches without a loss on Sunday (Oct. 22) when they welcome in the Northwest Missouri State Bearcats for a 2 p.m. contest at Hal Bodon Field. The Bearcats defeated the Lions 1-0 earlier this season in Maryville, Mo. and are currently 9-6 overall and 5-5 in the MIAA.
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