LACEY, Wash. – Four different seniors scored and the Montana State University Billings women's soccer team went on to defeat Saint Martin's University 5-1 Saturday afternoon at Saints Field in the final Great Northwest Athletic Conference regular season game of the fall. The Yellowjackets fell behind 1-0 early, but received goals from Courteney Shovlin, Alexa Iacolucci, Amanda Hemmen, Haylee Gunter, and Erin Reynolds to end their season on a positive note.
 
"This result was a great way to end the season," said MSUB head coach Stephen Cavallo. "I can't recall the last time our program hit five goals in one game. We also had five different goal scorers, which I think speaks to the talent of this team. I was extremely proud and happy that four different seniors scored in their last game, two of whom had the first career goal."
 
The Yellowjackets (6-9-2, 5-7-0 GNAC) finished just outside the playoff picture in 2019 but saw marked improvement from 2018 within the conference. The team also avenged an overtime loss to the Saints in October and evened the season series on the road.
 
Maddie Wolff opened with a goal for SMU in the 12^th minute and took a shot from seven yards out after a pass to the middle by Jolene Kvinsland. Then in the 19^th minute, Shovlin tied the game and less than ten seconds later, Iacolucci gave MSUB the lead off an assist by Claire Tevaseu.
 
The spree of goals continued when Amanda Hemmen headed in a corner cross by Iacolucci and made it 3-1. MSUB's three tallies in the first half came within four minutes of one another.
 
"We started the game slow and conceded the early goal but I was really proud of how the team responded and kept plugging away," said Cavallo. "We scored three goals in five minutes to completely flip the game on its head. From there we didn't look back, played some pretty good soccer along the way and got an empathic win to end the season."
 
Adding insurance to the lead midway through the second half, Haylee Gunter notched her fifth goal of the season and Julia Keller picked up an assist. Erin Reynolds took a pass from Iacolucci for her first career goal in the 86^th minute. Reynolds assisted on the 'Jacket goal against Simon Fraser and played arguably her best two games in an MSUB jersey in her final weekend as a senior.
 
Goalkeeper Erinn Harder made three saves and conceded one goal to earn the win. Abby Hamilton also played 12 minutes between the posts for MSUB. Sara Christensen was tagged with the loss for SMU after allowing five goals on seven shots on frame.
 
Alexa Iacolucci led the 'Jackets with three shot attempts. Keller and Kendall Lossner each had two. MSUB recorded seven shots on goal (12 total) compared to four (eight total) for the Saints.  
 
"The seniors deserve a lot of praise tonight but they wouldn't have been able to do it without their teammates," reflected Cavallo. "We have made great strides this season and are continuing to stabilize and build our foundation as a program. I am proud of those seniors but am ready for the next pages in our program's great history. We have a lot of talent on this team and this season has shown that we are getting closer to our ultimate goal. There is still a lot of work to be done but for now we will celebrate finishing the season with a 5-1 win."
 
THE BUZZ: Alexa Iacolucci was named St. Vincent Healthcare player of the game for MSUB. Iacolucci posted a goal and two assists for biggest single-game point total of the season...The last time MSUB scored five goals in a regular season game was October 8, 2011.