Jags Face Georgia Southern In SBC Semifinals This Evening
The Sun Belt Championships will continue today with the semifinals.
The first match of the day at 4pm will be #2 Troy versus #3 Texas State. The winner will earn a spot in the championship match on Sunday.
The Jaguars will continue their defense of their Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship as they face the #4 seeded Georgia Southern Eagles at 7pm at The Cage. The winner will earn the other spot in the championship match on Sunday.
The Jags and Eagles met on the pitch on October 17 in Mobile with the Jaguars earning a 2-0 win. Charde Hannah scored both goals for USA in that match.
Jags Defeat UALR 2-1, Advance To Semifinals Against #4 Georgia Southern
Charde Hannah showed why she was named both the freshman and Offensive player of the year in the Jaguars first match of the Sun Belt Conference Tournament last night at The Cage. Hannah scored both goals against eighth seeded Arkansas-Little Rock to lead the Jags to a 2-1 win in the opening round.
She opened the scoring in the ninth minute of the match when she followed her own miss from the right side and put it back into the net. That was how the score remained through halftime.
The Trojans evened the score shortly after halftime after a pair of shots were blocked before reaching the Jaguars goalkeeper. But a pass over the defense found Linnea Kogsta open and she was able to get it by Sarah Hay in the 49th minute.
Less than two minutes later, the Jaguars responded to regain the lead. Freshman Rio Hardy hit a through-ball which Hannah was able to get away from the defender and safely place into the right side of the net in the 51st minute.
“I thought it was a close and well-fought game,” South Alabama head coach Graham Winkworth said. “Arkansas-Little Rock are an extremely organized team and a very well-coached team. I have a lot of respect for my friend (Adrian Blewitt) over there. His team came out, were excellent and gave us a lot of scares.
“We’re fortunate to go through and I was pleased with our performance but a lot of credit needs to go to Little Rock as well.”
Hay had two saves, one in each half as her record improved to 14-1-1 on the season. The #1 seed Jags (17-2-1) advance to face #4 seed Georgia Southern on Friday at 7pm at The Cage in the semifinals. The winner will advance to the SBC Championship match on Sunday and will face the winner between #2 Troy and #3 Texas State.
Jaguar Soccer Sweeps SBC Individual Awards, Places 7 On All-SBC Teams
Freshman Charde Hannah became the second Jaguar and second SBC player ever to win both Freshman of the Year and Offensive Player of the Year awards in the same season. Photo: usajaguars.com
South Alabama women’s soccer team dominance in conference play has yielded them a sweep of the individual awards and seven players named to the All-Sun Belt Conference teams at annual SBC Awards Banquet on Tuesday. The Jags set new records with seven student-athletes earning spots on the All-SBC teams, they also set a record with five student-athletes earning first-team recognition. Additionally, USA becomes the first school in conference history to outright sweep the major individual awards.
Freshman Charde Hannah received both the league’s Offensive and Freshman of the Year awards. Junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith earned the Defensive Player of the Year award and head Coach Graham Winkworth was awarded the Sun Belt Coach of the Year.
The Jaguars had five players on the All-SBC First-Team, a new school record, which included Hannah, Rabsatt-Smith, Rio Hardy, Sophie Haywood and Steffi Hardy. They also had Monique Autmon and Danielle Henley who were named to the All-SBC Second-Team.
Hannah makes the second consecutive Jaguar player to win both the freshman and player of the year awards in the same season. Lauren Allison accomplished the feat in 2013. Prior to Hannah and Allison, no SBC school has ever claimed both the freshman and player of the year in the same season.
South Alabama Set To Host SBC Soccer Championships Starting Wednesday
The Sun Belt Conference women’s soccer championships begin on Wednesday, November 5th on the campus of the University of South Alabama. The Jaguars (16-2-1, 8-0-1 SBC) earned the #1 seed with their regular season championship and enter the tournament with a 15 match unbeaten streak.
Here are the seeds for the 2014 bracket:
- South Alabama – 25 pts., 8-0-1
- Troy – 18 pts., 6-3-0
- Texas State – 16 pts., 5-3-1
- Georgia Southern – 16 pts., 5-3-1
- Appalachian State – 15 pts., 5-4-0
- Georgia State – 13 pts., 4-4-1
- UL Lafayette – 13 pts., 4-4-1
- UALR – 7 pts., 2-6-1
Wednesday’s Matches:
M1 – 10am (CT) #6 Georgia State vs #3 Texas State
M2 – 1pm – #7 UL Lafayette vs #2 Troy
M3 – 4pm – #5 Appalachian State vs #4 Georgia Southern
M4 – 7pm – #8 UALR vs #1 South Alabama
Friday November 7:
M5 – 4pm – M1 Winner vs M2 Winner
M6 – 7pm – M3 Winner vs M4 Winner
Sunday, November 9:
M7 – 1pm – Championship match between M5 Winner and M6 Winner (Broadcast on ESPN3)
Hannah Named SBC Offensive Player of the Week for Third Time This Season
Freshman Charde Hannah earned Offensive Player of the Week honors for the third time this season after her two goals against Georgia Southern. Photo: usajaguars.com
Charde Hannah was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week on Tuesday for the third time this season. She earned the weekly award on September 16 and 23 this year.
She helped lead the Jaguars to shutout victories over Georgia Southern and Georgia State with two goals and seven shots on goal.
Against Georgia State she accounted for both goals to help the Jaguars set a new school record for consecutive games without a loss. She broke the scoreless tie in the 85th minute and added another in the 90th minute.
Hannah leads the conference in points (2.38) and goals (1.0) per game and is tied for sixth in assists.
This is the seventh time a Jaguar has been awarded player of the week honors.
Jaguar Soccer Closes Out Home Schedule With Pair of Wins
South Alabama used two late goals by Charde Hannah to extend their unbeaten streak to a school-record 12 matches with a 2-0 win over Georgia Southern Friday night at The Cage.
Hannah’s two goals, her 15th and 16th of the season and leads the Sun Belt, in the 85th and 90th minutes of the match ties her for second place in school history and her 38 points are fifth-best in school history.
The first goal came when the took advantage of a short pass to the goalkeeper by taking control of the loose ball then put it into the empty net. The second goal came off of a pass from Rio Hardy after they played a 1-2 outside the box.
In the first half the Jags held an 11-1 shot advantage over the Eagles, but were even with each team having eight shots.
Sarah Hay made three saves in her seventh shutout and the teams ninth of the season, both are tops in the conference.
“Right now with all of these teams beating each other in the league, all we can do is focus on ourselves and I’m pleased we got the result,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said after the match. “I thought the first half, even though we went in 0-0, was probably better from a playing standpoint than the second, but at the same time, we got the result and I’m proud of the girls for digging in.
“Often things open up in the second half when teams make adjustments. (Georgia Southern) coach (Brian) Dunleavy is a very good coach—he made some adjustments and we made some adjustments so the game opens up a little bit. At the same time, as it opens up for them, it opens up for us as well, and fortunately we were able to put a couple in the net.”
On Sunday, junior Jordan Duncan’s header proved to be only goal of the match and extended the school-record unbeaten streak the 13 matches with a 1-0 win over Georgia State.
“It was a physical game,” coach Winkworth said. “Both teams work extremely hard and you expect that sometimes when teams are very athletic and hardworking. Georgia State is a hardworking team, so a lot of credit to them. It was a close game and we were just fortunate we defended well throughout and I’m proud of our team’s effort. It was a good, positive result for us and it puts us a little closer to start talking more about finishing high at the table.”
Duncan’s goal, her sixth of the season but only her first since September, came in the 29th minute. Freshman Sophie Haywood found Sophomore Emily Farrell out wide, who then lifted a cross that Duncan was able to head into the upper right corner of the net against the Panther goalkeeper.
“It was a very nice goal,” Winkworth observed about the game-winning goal. “It’s funny because we played keepy-uppy with headers yesterday in practice because I was frustrated from the day before, so it’s funny that the goal came from her head. I told her it was all because of our practice yesterday and she was laughing at me.”
South Alabama’s defense held the Panthers to only five shots total and only one shot on goal. Sarah Hay made one save for her eighth shutout of the season.
The Jags had 22 shots, 11 on goal and two that hit the crossbar.
“The defense was fantastic,” Winkworth said. “They won first balls, they won second balls and they didn’t allow the ball to bounce like they did on Friday night. I’m really proud of their effort; they did exactly what we asked them to do and I can’t speak highly enough of them.
“From an attacking standpoint, the attack began with them so I’m proud of the way we played with the ball at the back. It was great work from our backline.”
South Alabama will close out the regular season next weekend in Arkansas with a Friday afternoon match against Arkansas State and Sunday at Arkansas-Little Rock.
The Jaguars are tops in the conference with 19 points with a 14-2-1 record overall and a 6-0-1 record in conference play. Texas State sits in second place with 15 conference points and a 10-5-1 record overall and 5-2 record in conference play.
Jaguar Soccer Closes Out Home Portion Of Regular Season This Weekend
The South Alabama soccer team will close out the home portion of their regular season this weekend with matches on Friday and Sunday.
After last weeks overtime wins against Texas State and Appalachian State, the Jags find themselves sitting on top of the conference with 13 points. Freshman Charde Hannah and junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith had the game-winning goals in those matches respectively.
Georgia Southern (9-3-1, 4-1 SBC) enters the 7pm Friday match against the Jaguars tied for second place in the conference with 12 points.
Sunday’s match against Georgia State (5-6-4, 3-1-1 SBC) are fourth in the conference with 10 points. They have rebounded from an 0-4-2 start to earn seven points in their last nine matches. They have also won back-to-back matches for the first time all season when they defeated Arkansas State and Georgia Southern by a combined score of 7-2.
Entering this weekend South Alabama has an 11 match unbeaten streak, tied for the longest in school history, as they have not lost a match since Kennesaw State defeated them 2-1 on August 31. If the Jags can get a win against Georgia Southern they will set a new school record for consecutive games without a loss.
Sunday will also be senior day. They will recognize two seniors, Shawn Meach and Emi Passini, prior to the 1pm start.
Come out and support your lady Jaguar soccer team at The Cage!
Jaguar Soccer Extends Unbeaten Streak to 11 Matches
The Jaguar soccer team extended their unbeaten streak to 11 matches over the weekend with two thrilling and hard fought overtime wins against Sun Belt foes Texas State and Appalachian State.
“I thought we did well tonight,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. “We’ve started to erase the silly errors at the back. We needed a cleansheet and I’m happy we got one tonight. I’m also proud of how over the last two games we’ve stepped up our play in overtime. That brave attitude finally got rewarded tonight.”
On Friday evening, freshman Charde Hannah scored in the first overtime to lead the Jaguars over Texas State 1-0 in San Marcos. The Jags outshot the Bobcats 24-10 in the match but were even at 4-4 in shots on goal.
Texas State entered the match with the best defensive record in the conference with only 10 goals allowed on the season and a 0.91 goals against average.
Freshman Rio Hardy assisted Hannah, who netted her shot from the top of the box just inside the right post, in the 98th minute of the match.
“It was a great goal,” Winkworth said. “She played it along the 18 (yard box) and put another screamer into the net. She’s a handful and people could double or triple team her, but the good thing is, when teams do that, it opens up space for other players. We’re not a one-player team; we have a lot of talent on this roster. She’s obviously one of the very talented players on the team and is on form. She gets a lot of chances because she works hard for them and she’s playing with talented players.”
Sophomore Sarah Hay had four stops in the net for her sixth cleansheet of the year. Three of her saves came in the first half while the defense kept the bobcast from shooting on goal in the second half.
After a day off on Saturday, they traveled to Appalachian State for another thrilling overtime win, the third in a row for the Jaguars.
After a scoreless first half, Nini Rabsatt-Smith put the Jags on the board in the 58th minute off an assist from freshman Danielle Henley. Henley’s through-ball hit Rabsatt-Smith, who then dribbled around the goalkeeper for her third goal of the season.
Appalachian State tied the match 13 minutes later when Logan White connected with Jane Cline in the box.
Rabsatt-Smith would get her second goal of the match, and the game winner, less than five mintues into the extra period at the 94:32 mark with an assist by Rio Hardy.
“It wasn’t pretty,” coach Winkworth stated about the match. “Appalachian State are a team that is all about intensity, workrate and passion, so I told my team that they’ll have to go in and match that today and we did. We were able to show the same signs that they were and were fortunate enough to get a couple of goals that way. Nini was on the end of a couple and it was a nice way to end the game and the weekend.”
“It shows the character we’ve got because it’s difficult, particularly when you’ve been leading in games and you’re pulled back and go into extra time; it’s a massive mental challenge,” Winkworth said. “For us to be able to pull ourselves back up and finish the game is great.”
“What I really want to emphasize, is we have quality players for different types of games,” Winkworth continued. “In certain games we have to play in a technical way and we have the players to break teams down. Today, other players had to come in and battle a little bit more.”
Hay had five stops and allowed only one goal in the match.
With the win, the Jags tied the school record for consecutive games without a loss as they are 10-0-1 in the last 11 matches. Their record currently stands at 12-2-1 overall and 4-0-1 in confernece play. The Mountaineers fall to 6-8 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The Jags have four more matches left this season with the next two being played at home. They will host Georgia Southern on Friday at 7pm at The Cage when Georgia State on Sunday at 1pm.
With Georgia Southern’s loss to Georgia State, the Jags have moved into the top spot in the conference with a 4-0-1 conference record. But Georgia Southern and Texas State are tied for second place with 4-1 records.
South Alabama and ULL Match Ends In Draw
The Women’s soccer team earned a 4-4 draw against Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday at The Cage to end the Jaguars eight-match winning streak. But their unbeaten streak sits and nine.
South Alabama took and early 2-0 lead in the match. Steffi Hardy scored on a header on a long free kick by Nikki Shirtcliffe, who got the assist, in the 15th minute of play.
Less than four minutes later, Charde Hannah put one away with an assist by Danielle Henley for the 2-0 lead.
But the Ragin’ Cajuns would tie the match before halftime. Yazmin Montoya would get the first goal on a penalty kick in the 32nd minute. Then in the 43rd minute Annika Schmidt would score after a loose ball by a Jaguar defender.
After the half, Bailey Scott would give the Cajuns a 3-2 lead in the 45th minute.
Rio Hardy would tie the game again with her eighth goal of the season on a penalty kick in the 55th minute. In the 70th minute, Hannah would add her 13th goal of the season after a long run down the right side.
But the Cajuns would not go down, Schmidt scored her second goal of the match after a turnover and long shot to beat the goal keeper in the 86th minute to tie the game a four apiece.
The Jags outshot the Cajuns 5-2 in the two extra periods of play, including one that hit the crossbar and another that grazed the bar, but none could find the back of the net.
Sarah Hay went the distance, allowing four goals with three saves.
“Today was not our best performance,” USA head coach Graham Winkworth said. “I’m proud of the girls’ work ethic; they worked extremely hard, but I’ve got to do much better. We tied 4-4 against a very good and very enthusiastic Louisiana-Lafayette team, so I want to give them a lot of praise, but we’ve got to perform better and I’ve got to do a better job of preparing them to do that.”
USA’s record sits at 10-2-1 overall and 2-0-1 in conference play. ULL’s record goes to 5-6-2 overall and 0-3-1 in conference play.
With that match, the Jags completed their five-match homestand. They will travel to Texas State on Friday for a 7pm match against the Bobcats.
Jaguar Soccer Wins 8th Straight by Defeating ULM 7-2 Friday
The South Alabama women’s soccer team won their eighth consecutive match on Friday when they defeated Louisiana-Monroe 7-2 at The Cage. The eight match winning streak is the second longest in school history.
The seven goals scored by the Jaguars are the second-most ever scored against a Sun Belt opponent, nine against UALR is the record, and the most against ULM in the series history between the schools.
The Jags scored their first three goals in a span of five minutes in the first half. After falling behind 1-0 midway through the first half, the Jags would score five unanswered to take control of the match.
The Warhawks could strike first in the 27th minute on their first shot of the match. The Jags had a 10-0 attempt advantage until that point.
Charde Hannah would set up the next two goals to help the Jags take the lead. Sophomore Monique Autmon tied the match at one in the 35th minute. Just 82 seconds later Hannah would set up freshman Sophie Haywood for her seventh goal of the season to put the Jags ahead 2-1. Then at the 39:53 mark, freshman Rio Hardy ended the scoring outburst after gaining control of a ULM goal kick and taking it the rest of the way, putting the Jags up 3-1 in quick fashion.
The Warhawks came out in the second half with the first five shots of the period, four of them on the net. Then the Jags regrouped and outshot ULM 18-1 the remainder of the match.
Freshman Steffi Hardy and junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith would add to the Jaguars lead in the 61st and 69th minutes before ULM netted their only other goal of the match.
Fellow freshman Danielle Henley and Chelsea Followwell ended the scoring with goals in the 77th minute assisted by Meagan O’Loughlin and in the 86th minute assisted by Rio Hardy, respectively.
Sophomore Sarah Hay had five stops on the day.
“I thought we played well,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. “I thought we moved the ball well, particularly in the first half; I thought our ball movement was excellent.”
“The girls were being patient,” Winkworth said about the match. “We were in control of the game in the first half. We went a goal down, but I really wasn’t concerned because we were creating a lot of chances. As long as we’re creating chances, I’m not too nervous. We continued to do that, and I was pleased.”
“We changed a few things and I think it took us a few minutes to settle down,” Winkworth said. “We were still strong defensively; Sarah (Hay) made a couple of big saves, but once she did that, I thought the rest of the half, we were solid defensively and continued what we’ve done most of the season. I’m disappointed to have conceded a couple of goals, but at the same time, when we’ve created that many chances and scored that many goals, you can’t really complain.”