DANVILLE, Va. — Averett University women's soccer soundly defeated Sweet Briar College 12-0 to highlight Senior Day on Day Field at Frank R. Campbell Stadium in a match that featured multiple record-setting feats by one of the Cougars' seniors.
Senior
Celia de Diego had a record-shattering day leading the Cougars' attack. After being one of nine seniors honored prior to the game, de Diego tallied nine goals and two assists, totaling 20 points. Her performance set the single-game goal and points records for Averett's program, and set the new high mark for the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in both goals and points in a single contest. The records did not stop there for de Diego, as she toppled the previous Division III this season high mark for goals and points, which were six goals and 14 points, respectively. Her 20-point performance also tied a 36-year-old all-time Division III record for points in a match, which was originally set by Beth Byrnes of Franklin & Marshall College on Oct. 29, 1988.
Averett (4-8-2, 3-5-0 ODAC) grabbed the important conference victory over the visiting Sweet Briar (3-10-0, 0-7-0 ODAC) side, as the Cougars flexed their offensive prowess over the Vixens.
Senior Day kicked off with honors given to Averett's nine seniors.
Evelyn Balderrama,
Tiffany Hargett,
Clarice Peters,
Candace Johnson,
Asia Williams,
Lisanne Guiaux, de Diego,
Alyssa Veasey and
Raylei Smith were all honored during the pregame festivities.
The celebrations continued early in the contest. Averett started the scoring with a strike from sophomore
Leah Brethren in the eighth minute, with an assist coming from de Diego. The Cougars next score came courtesy of de Diego just over three minutes later, with the assist off the foot of junior
Erika Lindstrom. Averett closed the first half scoring with yet another tally from de Diego, sending the game into the halftime break with the Cougars ahead, 3-0.
Averett came out of the brief intermission roaring. Brethren knocked in her second, capitalizing off another assist from de Diego, as the Cougars' winger secured a brace in the contest. Sophomore
Hailey Juhasz joined the party next, a pass from junior
Lucia Sanchez broke through the Vixens' back line and Juhasz delivered the fifth goal of the night.
With the Cougars' soundly ahead, de Diego took the game over. The Cougars' career leader in goals and points scored, de Diego added to her records in a big way. Averett scored seven straight goals to blow the game open, and every score was by de Diego. Assists poured in from across the field as de Diego's goals did the same, sophomore
Elena Barrett, Guiaux and Peters each slotted passes through the Sweet Briar back line to set de Diego in for chance after chance alone with the goalkeeper.
As the final whistle sounded, the Cougars closed out the 90 minutes with their most goals ever scored in a game, as well as their largest margin of victory. Averett has reached the 12-goal mark and margin three times previously, and not since 2016 against Mary Baldwin University.
After a brilliant Senior Day performance, the Cougars head on the road for their final two games. A trip to Eastern Mennonite University is up next, Averett will pay a visit to the Royals on Saturday at 7 p.m.
