ROME, Ga. –  The University of West Alabama men's and women's soccer teams continued their strong play on Friday, as each squad ran past Shorter on the Hawks' campus. The Tiger women took a 2-0 shutout against their counterparts, while the men won 3-2.
 
West Alabama's women's soccer team improves to 5-3-2 overall and 3-1-1 in Gulf South Conference play. On the men's side, UWA picked up its sixth-straight victory of the year and moves to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in GSC action.
 
Coach Graeme Orr's team started the Tiger sweep with a dominating performance in the day's first game. UWA outplayed the Hawks on both the offensive and defensive sides, as the Tigers shot 20 times compared to just nine shots from Shorter.
 
Reigning GSC Player of the Week Nicki Gears was once again the star for this West Alabama team as she scored two goals on the night. Her first came at the 33:47 mark off the assist from Lillian Khodabandeh to give her team a 1-0 lead at the half.
 
Gears then sealed the match just 15 minutes into the second period as she scored unassisted to give UWA the 2-0 win.
 
On the men's side, things were a bit closer late in the contest. In the first 37 minutes, the Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead with goals from Clay Green, Zach Traweek and Jonathan McLouth.
 
Shorter then rebounded to tighten it up late. Sean Malloy scored his team's first goal just two minutes after McLouth's score to put the total at 3-1. At the 62 minute mark, teammate Irvin Espinal inched his squad even closer with an unassisted goal to put the score at 3-2.
 
The Tigers staved off the Shorter rally to hold on for the victory as UWA goalkeeper Lavares Stone registered two saves in just his second start of the season.
 
Both the UWA men's and women's teams travel to Huntsville, Ala., on Sunday to take on Alabama-Huntsville. The women begin at 2 p.m. with the men's match is slated to start at 4:30 p.m.