PORTSMOUTH, Ohio -- With 147 career high school goals to her credit, Shawnee State freshman
Lexi Conkel left Minford and the Scioto County ranks behind as its most proflic goal-scorer in the prep ranks from a female perspective.
If Saturday's performance was any indication, Conkel is well on her way to making a similar impact with the Bears.
The freshman talent not only scored her first three career goals and accumulated her first career hat trick in the process, but did so in an incredible fashion, racking up all three of her goals in quick succession from the 18th to 20th minutes of play en route to helping Shawnee State put a River States Conference match against the Kentucky Christian Knights' program to bed early in a 8-0 victory for the Bears Saturday evening at Shawnee Turf as part of Pink Out Weekend and Family Day on the SSU campus.
Shawnee State, who improved to 3-8-1 overall and 2-2 in the River States Conference with the victory, dominated the 90-minute proceedings from beginning to end -- as the Bears posted six shots in the opening 16 minutes alone and didn't let up en route to outshooting the Knights by a massive 44-2 count.
Conkel racks up hat trick
Using her speed to knife her way through the Kentucky Christian defense,
Lexi Conkel wasted no time getting Shawnee State on the board with her three marks.
In the 18th minute, Shawnee State redshirt junior
Robyn Drinkwater, noticing a soft spot on the near side of the field, found Conkel from the left mid position, setting up the freshman, who was sprinting down the left side, with a free run at the net. From there, Conkel turned on the jets and lofted a ball with her right foot and lofted the ball with high velocity into the left corner of the net, giving the Minford product her maiden Shawnee State goal.
However, the skilled Southern Ohio native wasn't done there.
On a corner kick from Drinkwater, the England native played the ball short to corner, who lofted a beautiful ball into the air from just outside the far left side of the box and found its way into the back of the net for another goal for the talented freshman -- while allowing Drinkwater to tack on another assist to boot.
It only took Conkel 24 seconds to hit the magic number needed for the hat trick from there.
After gaining possession of the ball again, Drinkwater lofted a ball that bounced once before finding the feet of Shawnee State junior
Annie Coriell. Coriell fought off two Kentucky Christian defenders on the right side of the box, gained possession of the ball and then laid it off for Conkel to finish with ease in the middle of the box just mere feet from the net for the hat trick.
Within 20 minutes, Shawnee State had a 3-0 lead -- and the contest was, for all intents and purposes, a mere formality from that point on.
Conkel now has seven points for her Shawnee State career -- as the freshman has three goals and an assist to her credit in 2025.
Coriell becomes beneficiary of Ashkettle feed; scores 10th career goal
Moving quickly up the far side of the field just nine minutes later, Shawnee State struck again.
Returning from injury officially for the first time in a month, Shawnee State junior
Lucie Ashkettle sped up the far side, and, upon entering the right side of the box, split two Kentucky Christian defenders before laying the ball off to
Annie Coriell in front for the easy left-footed finish on the right side of the net.
The 29th minute goal ultimately resulted in Coriell's fourth goal of the 2025 season, the 10th of her career, and her 24th career point -- while Ashkettle notched her third assist of the year, her seventh career dime, and her 31st career point.
Anna's time to shine
With a 4-0 lead at the halftime break, Shawnee State got key contributions from additional talents throughout much of the second half.
True freshman
Anna Sas followed
Lexi Conkel's four goals with three of her own -- as Sas scored in back-to-back minutes in the 53rd and 54th frames of action. Sas scored in the 53rd from the middle of the box after a ball bounced around and off of several bodies -- finishing on the left-hand side of the net in doing so -- and in the 54th, scored in much the same fashion as Sas punched a ball into the right corner of the net after the ball deflected off of a Kentucky Christian defender, increasing the Shawnee State lead to a 6-0 margin.
Sas now has four goals in 2025 -- which leads all of the newcomers and transfers who have reached campus in 2025.
Drinkwater, Hall finish off scoring
Finishing off the victory with a bang, Shawnee State got one goal each from
Robyn Drinkwater and
Haley Hall to conclude matters in the onslaught.
Drinkwater, who was fouled inside the box in the 68th minute, scored on a penalty kick to put Shawnee State in front by a 7-0 margin -- racking up the ninth goal of her Shawnee State career in the process of doing so. Drinkwater now leads Shawnee State with 10 points on the strength of her team leading six assists in 2025.
As for Hall, the freshman nabbed her first career goal after receiving a pass from the midfield down the far side of the pitch -- and finished off her conversion despite taking a wicked shot, sliding the ball past Kentucky Christian goalkeeper Bella Opell for her first career Shawnee State goal to put a punctuation mark on the scoring.
Additional
Shawnee State will take part in a big week of soccer action that commences Thursday, Oct. 16 at 5 p.m. when the Bears play host to conference-leading Oakland City, Ind. (8-2-2, 4-0-1 River States Conference) in a RSC matchup that will take place at Shawnee Turf in Portsmouth.
For more information on the Shawnee State women's soccer program, visit
https://ssubears.com/sports/womens-soccer or check out Instagram at
https://www.instagram.com/ssuwsoccer.
