Box score

JOPLIN, Mo. -- The Bearcats got back on the winning track Thursday against Missouri Southern, with a convincing 4-0 victory. Junior forward Jaymye Ross connected on three goals in the match, doubling her season total in one night. SBU returned to the kind of play seen earlier in the season on both sides of the ball, as the Bearcat defense earned their fourth shutout of the season. Goalkeeper Megan Link returned to the starting lineup for the first time in five matches, playing the full ninety minutes and saving the only two shots on goal the Lions could get all night.

The match started off as a defensive struggle, as neither squad could get on the scoreboard during the first half. The 'Cats defense only allowed two shots from Missouri Southern in the first 45 minutes, controlling the tempo throughout.

SBU opened the floodgates after halftime, first with Taylor Vick putting the Bearcats in the lead in the 50th minute off a corner kick. After Vick's score, Ross put in her first of her three goals on the night in the 52nd minute. Ross continued to pick the defense apart and connected on two more goals, in the 66th and 76th minutes. Ross was able to score on her own and at will, as all of her goals were unassisted and came off only three shots taken the whole night.

With the hat trick, Ross becomes not only the first player this season to score more than one goal in a match, but the first player since Rhianne Mitchell and Nicola Cousins to score three for SBU. Ross' feat is also the third hat trick in the last two games played at Missouri Southern; Mitchell and Cousins earned hat tricks both in the same match, a 6-0 SBU win in Joplin.

SBU improves to 4-6 in the MIAA with the win and 6-6-1 overall, as they collect the season sweep of the Lions. Southern falls to 2-7 in the conference and 4-9 overall. The Bearcats get the weekend off before coming home for five of the final six games of the regular season, starting with a matchup against Central Missouri on Thursday, October 22. The afternoon start against the Jennies is scheduled for 3 p.m.