Sept. 5, 2010

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LOS ANGELES - LMU made it four wins on the trot with its second straight 2-0 victory, shutting out visiting Tennessee-Martin on Sunday afternoon at Sullivan Field. The Lions (4-1-0) got the first career goal from freshman Darien Pyka in the first half before senior Nickey Ha's third goal of the season sealed the win over the Skyhawks (1-4-1).

LMU dominated the game on the statsheet, holding a 17-7 advantage in shots, but it wasn't until Pyka's 42nd-minute strike that they broke the deadlock. After UTM cleared a long throw, junior Erin Rementer chased the ball down and turned on the right edge of the penalty area. Pyka came forward from the midfield and Rementer found her at the top of the box, where Pyka sent her left-footed shot into the top left corner for a 1-0 Lion lead.

Until that point, LMU had several chances to take the lead, attempting seven shots before UTM registered its first. In the opening seven minutes, freshman Tawni Martino and Ha each found themselves loose in the box, only to send their shots high. In the 11th minute, LMU won a free kick in the center of the pitch, 25 yards out. Sophomore Rachel Fell took a crack out of it, forcing Skyhawk goalie Lauren MacKenzie to go low to her right for the save.

The Lions' best early chance came in the 18th minute, when a long ball over the top brought MacKenzie off her line. Senior Kelley Lawson beat her to the ball and got her head on it before MacKenzie could arrive but the ball trickled just wide of the post. Three minutes later, Martino hit a shot on the turn but it sailed wide at the far post. Ha had another golden opportunity in the 35th minute as she slid in on a cross from the right, drawing a point-blank save out of MacKenzie.

The teams played fairly even in the second half until Ha put the game away in the 85th minute. Capitalizing on UTM pressing forward, sophomore Cori McGovern played Gallaudet in down the right. Gallaudet took her time to allow her teammates to catch up before serving a pinpoint cross to Ha, who headed past MacKenzie to complete the scoring. After finding the net just twice in her previous three seasons, Ha has now scored in three of LMU's first five games this season.

Redshirt freshman Brittany Jagger recorded five saves for her second straight shutout. MacKenzie stopped six shots for the Skyhawks.

The Lions play next weekend at the UCLA Tournament, which will be jointly hosted by UCLA and LMU. On Friday, the Lions take on UC Santa Barbara at 4 p.m. at UCLA's Drake Stadium. The venue switches back to Sullivan Field on Sunday for an 11 a.m. kick-off against #5 Notre Dame.