MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Faulkner rewrote the record books Thursday night at Billy D. Hilyer Stadium with a 14-0 win over SSAC foe Abraham Baldwin pouring in the most goals in a match in program history fueled by a four goal performance, a hat trick and a new single-game assist record.
Cassie Jackson ended the night with a hat trick and a new program record, assisting five goals in one match. The previous mark of four had been met four times with Katie Eaton and Chelsea Jones achieving it in back-to-back matches in 2013 and Victoria Moran and Nanako Omae also going back-to-back in 2019.
Alessia Confalonieri also made history becoming the first Lady Eagle not named Nikki Jagt to score four goals in a match, making her the first since 2009 to achieve the feat that had only been reached by the soon-to-be-inducted Faulkner Hall of Famer.
Jackson scored the opener in the fourth minute when
Chloe Cooper passed into the middle of the field where
Ainsley Lockwood hit a first touch through ball to Jackson who hit a first time shot into the right side netting. It was Jackson's first of three goals of the evening, Cooper's first assist of her career and Lockwood's first of the night.
Lockwood was pulled down in the box six minutes later and converted the penalty to make it 2-0 in the 10th. Just over 30 seconds later, Confalonieri added the third tally to the scoreboard with a close-angle finish with Jackson assisting.
Four minutes later, Jackson intercepted a wayward backpass and dribbled towards goal before firing a bar-down finish to make it 4-0. 30 seconds later, Lockwood weighed a perfect through ball to Confalonieri who squared across the frame to
Sofia de la Torre who buried the chance. de la Torre completed her brace 90 seconds later when Jackson picked her out from the end line across the goal to make it 6-0 in the 17th minute.
After a relative goal scoring drought,
Libby Graham was pulled down in the 36th minute for another penalty kick which Graham fired top shelf for her first goal of the season and her second career goal. Confalonieri scored her second and tied the program record for goals in a half with eight with a similar finish to her first as Jackson found her again in the 40th. The eight goal half has happened thrice previously, most recently on Oct. 1, 2022 at Talladega–a match where Confalonieri recorded a hat trick– as well as on Sept. 24, 2019 at Judson and September 21, 2017 hosting Talladega.
In the second half, the Lady Eagles showed no signs of slowing down as Confalonieri brought down a tricky ball and created space in the box to complete her hat trick in the 50th minute with a left-footed finish. About 80 seconds later, Confalonieri passed a through ball to Jackson who crossed to Lockwood who scored her second of the night.
In the 59th, Confalonieri completed her four goal evening when Sharon Lopez threw in to Jackson and the Italian scored it to put her 21st career goal away. It ties her for seventh all-time with Latoya Panton.
Jackson completed her hat trick a minute later when she pressed the keeper receiving another pass off a short goal kick and redirected it into the net to make it 12-0.
A couple more Lady Eagles picked up their first goals of the season to wrap up the scoring. In the 73rd minute,
Vanessa Mateko capitalized on a bad play from a defender and took advantage of the one-on-one chance to score her first Faulkner goal and tied the previous record for goals scored with the Sept. 21, 2017 win over Talladega.
Ashlei Bryant scored the one that officially broke the record with a 30-yard blast with her left foot after intercepting a goal kick.
The biggest threat on the defense came in the 81st minute, but
Corinne Weissinger jumped back in front of the ABAC attacker to force a bad shot.
The Lady Eagles' massive offensive performance comes in direct response to the largest loss in program history against No. 5 UT Southern last week. Faulkner outshot the Fillies 44-4 and allowed just three shots on goal with Keila Cardeiro,
Reagan Embry and
Brittany Wilkinson combining for a shutout. Cardeiro collected two saves and Embry one while Wilkinson was effective in shutting down some chances from becoming shots.
The win puts Faulkner at 5-6-2 overall and 3-3-1 in SSAC play, placing them currently in seventh in the SSAC with 10 points and will face Thomas Saturday who occupies the eighth spot with seven points. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m.
