Jags Snap Trojans Eight Match Winning Streak With 2-1 Win
The USA Soccer team used two goals in the first eight minutes of the match to defeat in-state rival Troy 2-1 at The Cage Friday night.
The Jaguars improved to 9-2 overall and 1-0 in the Sun Belt Conference on the season. They also extended their winning streak to seven games with the win and snapped Troy’s eight-match winning streak as the Trojans fell to 8-3 and 0-1 in conference play.
Rio Hard, a freshman from Workington, England, scored the first goal of the match and her sixth of the season as the Jags snapped Troy’s eight match winning streak and extended their own streak to seven matches. | Photo: usajaguars.com
The Jaguars took advantage of a Trojan miscue when freshman Rio Hardy picked up an errant back pass to the Trojan goalkeeper and walked into the net in the fourth minute of the match for her sixth goal of the season.
In the seventh minute of the match, freshman Sophie Haywood knocked home a free kick from sophomore Nikki Shirtcliffe to double the Jaguar advantage at 2-0.
The Jags and Trojans were stalemated for the next 75 minutes until Troy’s Georgia Wallis’ free kick from the top of the 18-yard box that deflected off Jaguar goalie Sarah Hay and went into the net to half the Jaguars lead to 2-1. South Alabama clamped down their defense as the Trojans did not get another attempt.
The goal allowed by Hay was the first in 532 minutes since the season opener against UAB. The Jags came into the match ranked 10th in the nation in goal against average.
“It was a great result, but I know we can play a lot better than that,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. “Credit Troy, they played extremely well. They caused a lot of problems and we managed to solve most of them as the game went on, and I thought the second half was much better. It’s important to get the first win. Sometimes wins come a little bit ugly and I’m pleased we got the result today.”
The team will have the week off before resuming their conference schedule on Friday when they host Louisiana-Monroe beginning at 7pm.
Jaguar Soccer Host Troy At The Cage Tonight
The South Alabama Soccer team will host conference rival Troy at The Cage on Friday evening. The Jags look to extend their six-match winning streak as it begins their Sun Belt Conference schedule.
But Troy enters the game with their own winning streak as well. They have won their last eight matches after falling in their first two matches of the season against LSU and Louisiana Tech. Two of their wins, Kennesaw State and UAB, are the two schools responsible for both of the Jaguars losses this season.
USA has shutout five of their last six opponents and seven overall this season. The Jaguars Charde Hannah has won the Offensive Player of the Week honor for two-consecutive weeks. Sarah Hay recorded 11 saves last week and five shutouts in six appearances on the season to earn Defensive Player of the Week honors. A USA player has won a weekly award five times this season. Nini Rabsatt-Smith and Sophie Haywood swept the weekly Defensive and Offensive awards on September 9.
The Jaguars (8-2, 0-0 SBC) and the Trojans (8-2, 0-0) will begin at 7pm.
Jags Soccer Sweep Player Of The Week Honors For Second Time This Season
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- Sarah Hay, a junior, made two stops in penalty shootout, the second to advance the Jags to the Conference Final against Georgia State on Sunday at noon. Photo: usajaguars.com
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- 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
The University of South Alabama soccer team swept the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week awards for the second time this season when freshman Charde Hannah and Sophomore Sarah Hay were honored this week. The Jags went 2-0 over the last week to extend their current winning streak to six games with their help.
Hannah earned the honor for the second consecutive week while Hay is honored for the first time in her career.
Hannah tied a school record with four goals and added an assist in USA’s 5-0 win over Francis Marion. She ranks second in the nation in points per match with 2.6, fourth in goals per match with 1.1 and 11th in game-winning goals with 3. With her help the Jaguars rank sixth in Division I in scoring with 3.70 per match.
Hay helps the Jaguars on the other end of the field. She made 11 saves in the two shutouts over the past week. She had five saves in a 1-0 win over North Florida then added six more against Francis Marion.
Hay has led the Jaguars to five shutouts in six appearances this season with a goals-against average of 0.32, which ranks 10th in the nation while her save percentage is third in the nation at .939.
The Jaguars begin conference play on Friday at 7pm when they host Troy at The Cage.
Hannah Ties Record With Four Goals Against Francis Marion in 5-0 Win
Freshman Charde Hannah earned Offensive Player of the Week honors on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. She is the third Jaguar to earn a weekly honor this season. She tied a school record with four goals against Francis Marion on Sunday, September 21. Photo: usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Charde Hannah tied a school record on Sunday with four goals in a 5-0 win over Francis Marion.
Charde got the scoring started with a goal in the 5th minute of the match and an assist by Danielle Henley. She would net her second goal in the 28th minute with an assist by Jordan Duncan on a shot into the upper right corner. At the half the Jags were up 2-0.
In the second half, Chelsea Followwell scored a goal after a rebound on a goal keeper save from about six yard out in the 50th minute of the match.
Just under six minutes later, Hannah scored a hat trick with a shot from about 20 yards out. In the 66th minute, Hannah could get her record tying goal on a throughball with an assist from Sophie Haywood.
Sarah Hay had six saves on the day.
The Jags held a 35 – 10 advantage in shots, 18-6 advantage on shots on goal.
Hannah Earns Offensive Player of the Week Honors
Freshman Charde Hannah earned Offensive Player of the Week honors on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. She is the third Jaguar to earn a weekly honor this season. Photo: usajaguars.com
Charde Hannah of the South Alabama Soccer team added to the Jaguars list of weekly honors on Tuesday as she was named the Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week.
Hannah, a freshman from Tupelo, Mississippi, is the third Jaguar to earn the conference’s weekly honor after freshman Sophie Haywood and junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith swept the awards last week.
Hannah recorded three goals and an assist for seven points as the Jaguars sent 2-0 by defeating Mississippi State and Alabama A&M. She scored both goals in the win over the Bulldogs.
She currently ranks 16th in the nation in goals per match (.875) and 17th in points per match with 2.13. She leads the conference in both of those categories.
USA will try to extend their four-matching winning streak on Friday when they host North Florida at The Cage.
South Alabama Soccer Defeats Mississippi State 2-0
Freshman Charde Hannah netted two goals as the Jags defeated Mississippi State in Starkville 2-0 on Friday. Photo: usajaguars.com
The South Alabama soccer team has now won four consecutive games with wins over Mississippi State in Starkville on Friday evening 2-0 behind freshman Charde Hannah’s two goals, her fifth and sixth of the season and a 6-2 win over Alabama A&M on Sunday.
With the wins, the Jags have now won six of their last seven outings. Prior to defeating Alabama A&M the Jags had won their previous three games by shutout. The Jags record improves to 6-2 on the season while the Bulldogs fall to 2-4.
The two teams were scoreless until the 71st minute with Hannah scored on a breakaway inside the left post. Her second goal came with just 12 seconds left in regulation to put the match away.
Sophomore Sarah Hay finished with six saves in the teams fifth shutout of the season. The Jags outshot the Bulldogs 16-14 but Mississippi State led 7-6 in shots on goal.
Against Alabama A&M the Jags got five second-half goals as Sophie Haywood came off the bench to score two goals, a brace, and Charde Hannah added a goal and an assist also off the bench.
Junior Jordan Duncan recorded a goal and two assists, freshman Rio Hardy and Alyssa Pejic also netted goals. Pejic’s goal was the first of her career.
This was the first time that the Jags had to rally after the Bulldogs got a goal in the 18th minute. It would hold the lead for the next 17 minutes before Hannah’s goal tied the match, her team-leading seventh goal of the season.
It was tied at one goal each at halftime then the Jags go back on the board again quickly when Haywood netted her first goal of the match only six minutes into the half. Her second came only three minutes after the first.
Beginning on Friday, the Jags will start a five-match homestand. They will begin with North Florida, part of the Jaguar Classic. The match will begin at 7pm. Troy will start off the festivities against Francis Marion at 4pm.
Jaguar Soccer Sweep Weekly Conference Awards
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- Haywood earner her first SBC weekly honor as she was named the Offensive Player of the Week on September 9, 2014. She posted her first career hat-trick as the Jaguars won back-to-back shutouts over Southern Miss 6-0 and Southern University 7-0. Photo: usajaguars.com
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- Rabsatt-Smith, a junior, earner her first SBC weekly honor as she was named the Defensive Player of the Week on September 9, 2014. She helped the Jaguars to back-to-back shutouts over the previous weekend to defeat Southern Miss 6-0 and Southern University 7-0. Photo: usajaguars.com
After sweeping the weekend with a pair of shutouts, the South Alabama Jaguar soccer team also swept the weekly Sun Belt Conference awards as junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith and freshman Sophie Haywood were named SBC Players of the Week on Tuesday.
Rabsatt-Smith, originally from Montgomery, Alabama, earned the conference’s weekly defensive award. She scored her first goal of the season and added two assists in a four-point week. But she also played a key role in the two shutouts and the team’s fourth overall. She started the scoring against Southern Miss after intercepting a pass at midfield. She assisted on back-to-back goals against Southern as well.
Haywood, a native of Hull, England, earned the offensive award as she helped lead the Jags to back-to-back shutouts over the weekend. She posted her first career hat-trick and an assist against Southern Miss. Then, against Southern, she got the assist on the second goal of the match to tie her for second on the team with three assists this season.
In the two matches South Alabama only allowed seven shots total and have won four of their last five matches with all four wins coming via shutout.
This is the first time that Rabsatt-Smith or Haywood have earned Sun Belt honors. The last time the school swept the conference player of the week awards was on August 27, 2013.
The Jags travel to Mississippi State to face the Bulldogs on Friday, September 12 with the match getting underway at 7pm.
Jaguar Soccer Win Both Weekend Matches By Shutout
Sophie Haywood, Freshman from Hull, England, earned her first hat-trick against Southern Miss on Friday night as the Jags defeated the Golden Eagles 6-0. Photo: usajaguars.com
The Jaguar soccer team won both of their matches over the weekend, both by shutout and by a combined score of 13-0.
They started off the weekend when they defeated Southern Miss 6-0 after the Golden Eagles picked up an early red card. Freshman Sophie Haywood earned a hat-trick in the match.
The Jaguars outshot USM 31-3 to get their second largest margin of victory against the Golden Eagles in the history of the series between the two schools.
Junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith and freshmen Tiina Trutsi and Rio Hardy all found the back of the net for the Jaguars.
Haywood got the scoring started at the 33:12 mark from the left byline after a corner kick. She then added her second seven minutes later with a stop from the top of the box. Her third and final goal would come in the waning minutes of the match on a low shot past the goalkeeper.
On Sunday the Jaguars traveled to Southern University and blanked them with a 7-0 win.
All of the goals were scored by Freshmen with the exception of one. Beginning with Charde Hannah in the 13th minute, followed by Danielle Henley in the 14th minute to give South Alabama an early 2-0 lead. Then Rio Hardy netted a goal, her first of two for the day, in the 23rd minute followed shortly by Chelsea Followwell, the first of her career, in the 26th minute for a 4-0 advantage.
Jordan Duncan, a junior, made it 5-0 in the 37th minute which would also be the score at halftime.
Then the freshmen were at it again with Rio Hardy netting her second goal of the day in the 56th minute and Meagan O’Loughlin closing out the scoring in the 89th minute.
Rio Hardy added a pair of assists for her first six-point performance of her short career as a Jaguar. Hannah and Followwell both had an assist to go along with their goals. Nini Rabsatt-Smith had two assists.
“It was a very team-oriented, professional performance,” USA head coach Graham Winkworth said after the match against Southern. “The first half, we started slowly; Southern sat back and we didn’t move the ball quickly enough. But once we started to move the ball around a little bit quicker, we started creating more chances.”
“That shows how good we are from a depth standpoint,” Winkworth explained. “We have a lot of quality; we’re not a one-player team. When an opposing side is trying to scout us, who do they want to mark? You’re going to have to mark everybody because we’ve got a pretty solid group, and that’s not necessarily the players starting either; we have some quality coming off the bench. We emphasized that again today with scoring two more goals off the bench.”
The Jaguars will travel to Mississippi State for a match on Friday against the Bulldogs starting at 7pm.
Jaguar Soccer Split Weekend Series In Troy
South Alabama Soccer split a pair of matches over the weekend.
Their first match on Friday against Tennessee Tech in Troy, Alabama saw the Jaguars win 5-0 behind junior Jordan Duncan’s hat trick. Duncan’s three goal performance is the first by a Jaguar since Lauren Allison against Louisiana-Lafayette last season and the first to post seven points in a match since Linsey Snavely on September 15, 2013.
Duncan started the scoring just before halftime off of a cross from freshman Danielle Henley. She also closed out the scoring with the Jags final two goals with her second at the 77th minute then completed the hat trick with less than four minutes left in the match.
Freshman Charde Hannah converted a pass from freshman Rio Harding into a goal. Henley netted her third goal of the season in the 75th minute.
Freshman Sophie Haywood earned assists on the final two goals of the day while playing in her first ever career match.
The Jaguar defense held the Golden Eagles to only four shots total and none of them forcing sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Hay to make a save.
On Sunday, the Jaguars fell to Kennesaw State 2-1 despite a 19-6 shot advantage. The split matches over the weekend puts the Jaguars at 2-2 on the season as the Owls earned their first win of the season to stand at 1-2-1.
Freshman Charde Hannah scored an unassisted goal, her third of the season, at the 3:59 mark but the Jaguars could not net another goal for the rest of the match.
Shortly after Hannah’s goal, the Owls responded when Maggie Gaughan scored off of a pass from Alma Gardarsdottir at 11:35. The match would remain tied at 1 for almost 70 minutes before Gaughan netted her second goal of the match in the 82nd minute after a Jaguar defender and goalkeeper collided to give her the scoring opportunity.
Freshman Courtney Baum made three saves in the net for USA and allowed both goals.
The Jags return to action on Friday for a 7pm match against Southern Miss at The Cage.
Henley Helps Lead Jaguars Past Nicholls State 3-0
Henley, a freshman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, scored two goals against Nicholls State on Sunday in her first collegiate game to help lead the Jaguars past the Colonels 3-0. | Photo: usajaguars.com
The South Alabama soccer team rebounded on Sunday to defeat Nicholls State 3-0 to even their record at 1-1 in their opening weekend of play. They fell to UAB on Friday night 1-2 in 2OT.
Danielle Henley, a freshman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, recorded a pair of goals with classmate Rio Hardy from Workington, England netting the other goal in the match. Henley scored both of her goals in the first 15 minutes of play, the first on a shot from distance at the 5:40 mark, then the second by controlling a corner kick from fellow freshman Tiina Trutsi and knocking it in the net at the 14:12 mark.
Hardy scored her first career collegiate goal shortly before halftime by converting a breakaway off of a pass from freshman Alyssa Pejic at the 44:39 mark.
“They played excellent,” Winkworth said. “Dan’s first strike was with her left peg; the keeper nearly got to it but she managed to put it in the top corner. The second strike was a tidy finish under pressure, and then Rio’s was on a 1-on-1. Those things are stressful when you go 1-on-1 with a goalkeeper and she was composed and put it away.
“We created a lot of quality chances today and hopefully we can continue to do that because the more good chances we create, hopefully the more goals we’ll score.”
The Jags shined on defense as they only allowed four shots total and none on goal. Freshman Courtney Baum earned the win in her first collegiate start.
“We defended from front to back today,” Winkworth stated. “Steffi (Hardy) and Nini (Rabsatt-Smith) were brilliant back there together today. Alyssa (Mayer) and Nikki (Shirtcliffe) too, and Emi (Passini) when she came on as well, were excellent in getting to their outside players—they had a lot of running to do out there and they did it very well and stayed organized. We stayed compact, were organized defensively and if we don’t concede goals, we’ll be very difficult to beat.”
South Alabama will return to action this weekend when they travel to Troy to play in the Trojan Classic. The Jags will face Tennessee Tech on Friday and Kennesaw State on Sunday.