SUWANEE, Ga. - The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference opened its 19th season of women's soccer this past week with ten teams in action. Combined the league posted a sparkling record of 16-2-3 with a plus 47 goal differential. As promised it appears the league is a competitive as ever.

AROUND THE SCAC

Austin College opened its season with three straight shutouts, tying UT-Dallas after two overtimes and trouncing Fontbonne 5-0 and LeTourneau 3-0. Kaitlin Elledge, who had six shutouts a year ago, was in the net for all three shutouts last week and made six saves. First year player Kelsey D’Amore scored two goals and Ali Ryan added a goal and two assists on the week, while Annie Gunter and Amy Holman each had a goal and an assist. Shelley Casey also got into the scoring, finding the net against Fontbonne, while Ali Fidel and Mackenzie Lund each scored against LeTourneau. Next up for the ’Roos is a home contest against Mary Hardin-Baylor on September 8.

Birmingham-Southern made easy work of the visiting Huntingdon College Hawks, winning 8-0 in their season opener at BSC Soccer Park. Senior Serena Murphy returned from a season-ending injury last season to give the Panthers their first goal of the season off a nice cross from Sara Menton. The goal turned out to also be the winning goal, as the Panther defense allowed just one Hawk shot on the night. Menton scored her own goal on the next trip down the pitch to get her first of two on the night, putting BSC up 2-0 and the Panthers took over from there. Linda Amaya scored in the 11th-minute, and Alicia Plotky added the Panthers’ fourth in the 32nd, putting ‘Southern up 4-0 at the half. Devon Weldon got her first collegiate goal in the 68th-minute. Then Menton and Plotky each got their second goal of the match, all in the span of ten minutes. Adding to the Hawks woes on the night, in the 79th-minute a Huntingdon defender attempting to clear the ball out of bounds misfired and sent the ball shooting past her own keeper, giving Jillian Theibert her first goal of the season due to her proximity to the play. The Panthers will take this momentum and try and carry it over on the road Monday, as they face Auburn-Montgomery at 4:00 in a Labor Day matchup with the Senators.

Centre earned three wins in their opening three matches. This weekend the Colonels head to Greencastle, Ind., to participate in the DePauw University Showcase. Centre plays Wittenberg University Friday, Sept. 11th at 5:30 pm and Denison College Saturday, Sept. 12th at 2:00 pm.

DePauw opened the season with three games against teams ranked in the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Preseason Top 25 Poll and came away with an 0-2-1 record. The Tigers opened at home with a 2-1 loss to 16th-ranked Chicago as the teams battled to a 1-1 tie through the first 45 minutes. The visiting Maroons scored early in the second half and took a 2-1 win. Stephanie Patton scored the Tigers' lone goal at 32:17. The Maroons outshot the Tigers 12-6, but DePauw had two corners to Chicago's one. Caroline Kerr totaled three saves for DePauw, while Chicago's Emma Gormley had two. DePauw then faced 11th-ranked University of Puget Sound at the Bob Baptista Invitational at Wheaton (Ill.) College and dropped a 4-0 decision to the Loggers. The Tigers wrapped up the week with a 1-1 tie against 21st-ranked Carleton. DePauw trailed 1-0 at the half, but Julia Drummond scored just 16 seconds into the second half and the teams were scoreless through regulation and both overtimes. Carleton held a 29-21 edge in shots, while each team finished with seven corners. Lauren Palfrey recorded five saves in the first half, while Caroline Kerr posted six saves and didn't allow a goal in the second half and both overtime periods.

Hendrix College first year forward Ashley Gallegos ignited her collegiate career with a hat trick to lead Hendrix College to a 7-0 season-opening win over Louisiana College on Saturday afternoon. Gallegos totaled eight points on the day with three goals and two assists, while junior midfielder Lydia Nash dished out three assists and four other Warriors scored one goal apiece. It took Hendrix 22 minutes to crack the scoreboard, when senior forward Kate Burnett put the ball past the keeper off an assist from Gallegos. The two forwards traded places for the next goal with Gallegos scoring and Burnett assisting in the 28th minute. Gallegos connected with Nash for her second goal of the contest with four minutes remaining in the first half. First year midfielder Kaleigh Knapton scored her first collegiate goal off an assist from sophomore midfielder Lindsey Abel in the 41st minute, and then Gallegos and Nash combined once again to put Hendrix up 5-0 in the first half. The Warriors tallied 24 shots in the first half, compared to the Wildcats’ two. Goalkeeper Emily Breaux made 12 saves for Louisiana in the first half, while sophomore Allison Mosley did not face a shot on goal the entire game. Abel scored Hendrix’s first goal of the second half off Nash’s final assist of the game. First year forward Ana Contreras slipped the Warriors’ final ball past the keeper in the 88th minute off an assist from Gallegos.

Millsaps put together a 2-0 week to open the 2009 season. The Majors opened with a 3-0 shutout victory on the road Tuesday night at Louisiana College and followed it up with a 1-0 shutout win over East Texas Baptist University at home Sunday afternoon. Senior Leslie Robichaux led the team offensively, scoring three of the team’s four goals, two of which proved to be game-winners. Backstopping the defense was junior goalkeeper Sarah Nelin, who finished the week allowing zero goals against and making four total saves in the two contests. Millsaps will remain home for its next match Wednesday night when they take on the Yellow Jackets from LeTourneau University at 7:00 p.m.

Oglethorpe won both their games in the opening week of the season to post a 2-0 record. In the opener against Agnes Scott, Oglethorpe got a late goal off the foot of freshman Courtney Phillips in the 80th minute to seal a 2-1 win. Shannon Dougherty fed Phillips with a beautiful cross from 20 yards out for the game winner and Lexi Vassell got the scoring underway for Oglethorpe on an unassisted effort early in the second half. On Thursday, the Petrels rallied to top Spelman, 2-1. Down a goal, the Petrels got the equalizer in the game’s 59th minute when Vassell fed Dougherty for a perfectly executed blast from 25 yards. As the clock ticked down, sophomore Eliza Newland buried a free kick from 30 yards in the game’s 82nd minute to spring the Petrels to victory. The Oglethorpe women are back on the pitch this Thursday afternoon when they face Tennessee Temple on Salamone Field at 3:30 p.m.

Rhodes started the 2009 season in quick fashion, when Ashley Ladd scored 8 minutes into the first game of the season against the University of the Ozarks. Also scoring in the 3-0 victory for the Lynx were Melissa Coquelin, and Alice Hilgart. Zoe Clark, Ashley Ladd, and Mae Casey provided the assists for the goals. In the second game of the Rhodes Classic, the Lynx tied the University of Texas-Dallas 1-1 after 110 minutes of soccer. Bridget Nicholson scored the equalizer with 23 minutes left in the game. UTD and Rhodes battled out the remainder of time and 2ot’s for the draw. The Lynx return to action this weekend when they travel to Abilene, TX to face East Texas Baptist University, and Hardin-Simmons University.

Sewanee did not play last week and will kick off the 2009 soccer season as the Purple Tigers will host Covenant College on Tuesday up on the Mountain.

Southwestern has opened the season in impressive fashion scoring seven goals over a two game period to start 2009 2-0. The Pirates opened at home against Mary Hardin-Baylor on Tuesday with a 3-1 win. They dominated most of the game taking eight more shots (14-6) than the Crusaders. Amy Douglas led the way with one goal and one assist in the opener. Saturday, SU traveled to Howard Payne University and wasted no time getting on the board scoring just six minutes into the game when Douglas found AJ Andreola. The Pirates scored two more times in the half to go up 3-0 and then added one more on for good measure in the second half to win 4-0. Andreola led the way for SU with two goals in the game on seven shots. Keepers Sarah Nonaka and Cheryl Duncan have been splitting time in goal and recorded two games a piece over the weeks action.

Trinity opened up its season with a pair of shutout wins at home last week, defeating Texas Lutheran 2-0 on Tuesday, then edging Hardin-Simmons 1-0 in overtime on Saturday. The Tigers tallied eight shutouts in 18 games last season, but already have two at the start of this year. Goalkeeper Katie Garrett has recorded four saves in two games, and senior All-Region defender Danika Wright has led a defense that held the two opponents to just 10 total shots. Abigail Loar, last season’s SCAC Newcomer of the Year, knocked in two of the team’s three goals last week, with both goals being game-winners. Loar tied for third on the team with six goals last season. Trinity will wrap up its four-game homestand to start the year with two more games this weekend. The Tigers face UT-Tyler on Friday night, then take on UT-Dallas on Sunday afternoon. Last season, Trinity went to double-overtime on the road against both teams, beating UT-Dallas 2-1, but tying UT-Tyler 2-2.

To view the entire Kicks Weekly for week one, click here.