USA Soccer Finishes Season With 3-1 Win Over ULM
The South Alabama women’s soccer team scored twice in a two minute span against Louisiana-Monroe to end the regular season with a 3-1 win on Senior Day.
The Jags (12-5-2, 5-2-1 SBC) also claimed maximum points on Thursday against ULL to finish the weekend with six points and helps the team to climb from fourth to second in the unofficial final regular season standings.
The Jags are tied with the ULL for second, but would be seeded ahead based on their win over them on Thursday.
Senior Shelby Owen opened the scoring for the Jags in the third minute. ULM (6-12-1, 1-7-0 SBC) could not manage a shot on goal until the 18th minute. They needed at least a share of points to receive a berth in the SBC Championship in San Marcox, Texas on November 6 – 10.
Five minutes into the second half, they would tie the game after a penalty.
The Jags responded with two goals in the 78th and 80th minutes of the match to put the game away. The Jags will now prepare for the Sun Belt Championships on November 6-10 when they face Georgia State. The Jags defeated the Panthers in Atlanta on October 10 by a score of 2-1.
Final seedings will be announced by the Sun Belt Conference soon.
Jags Fall To Texas State On Last Second Field Goal
The South Alabama Jaguars fell on a late field goal on Saturday in San Marcos, Texas 33-31. They fought back from an 11 point deficit at halftime. They scored 21 points in the fourth quarter and 28 points in the second half.
USA tied the game with 13:10 left in the fourth quarter on a 13 yard touchdown pass from Ross Metheny to Shavarez Smith. Texas State would drive down and score a 37 yard field goal to regain the lead with 7:56 left then on the Jaguars next possession, Metheny’s pass would be intercepted and returned 29 yards for a touchdown by Justin Iwuji to give the Bobcats a 27-17 advantage.
But the Jags would not give up. With 5:20 left in the game, Metheny connected with Danny Woodson for a 42 yard touchdown to climb within three points again at 27-24. Texas State would drive and add their third field goal of the game to go back up by six points, 30-24 with 2:22 left in the game.
The Jags would add another long touchdown when Metheny connected with Danny Woodson again for a 43 yard touchdown to take their only lead of the game 31-30 with the PAT.
However, the Bobcats were not giving up with 1:32 left. After gaining a first down out to the Texas State 40, Tyler James would connect with Jafus Gaines for a six yard completion on a slant. He would run up and spike the ball. Jones would connect with Gaines again for five yards and an apparent first down, but the Bobcats would be flagged for offensive pass interference to back them up to the Texas State 31 and face 3rd and 19. Jones would then attempt a pass over the middle which Maleki Harris would knock down to bring up 4th and 19. A false start would make it 4th and 24 at the Texas State 26 yard line.
The Jags would take their final time out of the game to set their defense for the 4th and 24 play. Texas State’s Tyler Jones would air it out down the right sideline and connect with Ben Ijah for 51 yards to the Jaguar 23 yard line. After a rush for a loss of 1 yard, Texas State would take their final time out of the game with :08 left in the game.
Jason Dann would add his fourth field goal of the game from 41 yards out to give Texas State a 33-31 lead with :04 seconds left. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty would be flagged on the Bobcats to back up the kickoff 15 yards. The kickoff would make it into the endzone and downed for a touchback.
The first play would be incomplete to Jereme Jones leaving :01 on the clock. The next pass would be caught by Jereme Jones then the lateraling would begin. Jones would get it back to Metheny who would toss it back to Jones, who would toss it to Shavarez Smith, then to Cris Dinham, then back to Metheny, then Smith again who would try to get rid of it but would fumble it to be recovered by Texas State at the Jaguar 43 yard line.
The Jags were outgained in total yards 452 – 409. Texas State had 234 yards rushing and 272 yards passing. The Jags gained 109 yards rushing and 300 yards passing. The Bobcats ran 79 plays and controlled the ball for 37:21 of the game compared to the Jags 65 offensive plays and 22:39 time of possession. The Jags were a mere 4-of-13 in third down conversion attempts and 1-of-2 in fourth down conversions. Texas State converted 8-of-17 third downs and both of their two fourth down attempts.
Cris Dinham was the leading rusher for the Jaguars with 54 yards on four carries. Ross Metheny gained 40 on 10 carries and Jay Jones managed 15 yards on five carries. Metheny was the only rusher to find the endzone.
Danny Woodson caught five passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns (one for 42 and the other for 43 yards). Wes Saxton caught the most passes with 10 for 89 yards. Jereme Jones caught four passes for 50 yards. Shavarez Smith added 41 yards on three receptions. Jay Jones caught three for six yards and Bryant Lavender caught two for seven yards.
Ross Metheny went 27-of-43 for 300 yards and three touchdowns with one interception. Brandon Bridge did not see time in the game.
Enrique Williams led the Jags with 13 total tackles and one tackle for loss. Qudarius Ford had nine, all but one solo. Montell Garner was the only Jag with an interception. Pat Moore collected two sacks for 18 yards and Montavious Williams got one sack for 14 yards.
“I thought they outplayed us for three quarters,” Head coach Joey Jones said in his postgame press conference. “They controlled the game. We fought our way back into it and had a chance to win it. We had them on fourth-and-long and they convert it. But I thought they outplayed us most of the game. They ran the ball well on us. We didn’t do anything offensively in the first half. We can’t fall behind that much and expect to win ball games. We had a chance though, we just didn’t get it done.”
“Our kids are always going to come back and fight,” Joey Jones stated. “I told them in the locker room that we have to close those games out. We went ahead with a minute-and-a-half left, we just had to find a way to stop them.”
Defensive lineman Romelle Jones was injured in the first half of the game on a chop-block by the Bobcats. They were penalized for the block. The senior attended the Jaguars conditioning workout on Sunday but the extent to the injury is not know just yet. Though there was more optimism about his return, but further tests and results of prior tests are still pending.
Right now, Romelle is listed as day-to-day until they know more.
“I was a little worried about that after the game,” head coach Jones told AL.com on Sunday. “The report I got was fairly negative. I think we’re going to get some more tests run, but he seems to be walking pretty normally and I think he should be back sooner than we thought originally.”
The Jags (3-4 overall, 1-2 SBC) will return to Ladd-Peebles Stadium against Arkansas State on Saturday. They will try to even their overall record and their Conference record while trying to stay alive for the SBC championship.
Saturday’s game is set to kick off at 6:30pm in their annual Hall-Of-Fame game. It will also be televised nationally on ESPN3.
The Sun Belt Conference Announces Affiliation With New Miami Beach Bowl
The Sun Belt Conference announced that it has tie-ins with the newly created Miami Beach Bowl. The Bowl will be owned and administered by the American Athletic Conference and will be played at the Miami Marlin’s new stadium, Marlins Park, which opened two seasons ago.
The Sun Belt will be in the six year bowl rotation for the game along with Conference USA and the Mid-American Conference.
In 2014 and 2015, Conference USA will face a team from the AAC. In 2016 and 2018, a team from the MAC will face an AAC team. That leaves a Sun Belt team to take part in 2017 and 2019.
“The Sun Belt Conference is excited to be included in this new bowl game,” said Commissioner Karl Benson. “Our student-athletes and fans look forward to postseason opportunities and I know that the Miami Beach Bowl will be a great showcase for college football.”
“We are very pleased to host the Miami Beach Bowl at Marlins Park,” said Marlins President David Samson. “Bringing postseason football back to the site of the Orange Bowl should bring a smile to the faces of college football fans throughout South Florida. The history of college football in Miami is replete with fond memories of great players making historic plays on these hallowed grounds. Marlins Park is a perfect venue for exciting college football, and we look forward to many memorable matchups in the years to come.”
Marlins Park will be able to seat 34,000 for football with 50 luxury suits, a retractable roof, climate controlled temperatures and a natural grass playing surface. It opened in 2012 for Miami Marlins, a Major League Baseball team.
Jags Vs Bobcats Overview With Franchione Press Conference Video
The University of South Alabama football team (3-3 overall, 1-1 SBC) travels to Texas State (4-3, 1-2 SBC) for a 6pm kickoff on Saturday in San Marcos, Texas.
The Jags enjoyed a 38-21 homecoming win over Kent State last Saturday, the first comfortable win in almost two seasons and snapping a two-game losing streak.
Texas State’s head coach Dennis Franchione is in his third season as head coach of the Bobcats and are coming off of a 24-17 win over Georgia State and ranks first in scoring defense in the Sun Belt Conference. This will be the Bobcats homecoming game and hope to enjoy a win similarly to the Jags win last week.
Going against one of the top Sun Belt Conference defense is the Jaguar offense who gained 481 yards of offense with a balanced attack. The Jags rushed for a season high 224 yards and threw for 257 more while controlling the ball for almost 35 minutes.
One of the key stats from the game against Kent State is that the Jags did not commit a single turnover. The Jags will need to protect the ball against Texas State as they are among the leaders in turnover margin in the Sun Belt.
Play-by-play of the game can be heard on WNSP 105.5FM as well as streaming online worldwide on www.wnsp.com. The game can be seen on ESPN3 as well.
This is a video of Texas State head coach Dennis Franchione from his Tuesday press conference where he spoke about their win over Georgia State and looking ahead to tomorrows game against South Alabama.
Go Jags!
Jaguar Women’s Soccer Defeat ULL 4-2
Freshman Lauren Allison scored three goals against ULL on Thursday evening. | Photo usajaguars.com
The South Alabama women’s soccer team controlled the match against Louisiana-Lafayette from beginning to end at The Cage on Thursday and earned the 4-2 victory.
The Jags snapped a back-to-back losing streak when they Jags were shutout by Western Kentucky and Troy. The Jags (11-5-2 overall, 4-2-1 SBC) shook that off and quickly got on the scoreboard in the eighth minute when Lauren Allison got her first goal in four matches.
Senior midfielder Clarissa Hernandez followed with two shots on goal before knocking home a header of sophomore defender Nini Rabsatt-Smith’s corner kick to put the Jags up 2-0.
ULL finally got on the scoreboard after an appeal for a handball. Freshman Yazmin Montoya netted her chance and cut the Jaguar lead in half to 2-1.
Seven minutes into the second half (53rd minute) sophomore Jordan Duncan intercepted a ULL pass, fed it to Allison who netted it for the Jags to regain their two goal lead at 3-1. Allison would add another goal less than 20 minutes later (71st minute) to push the Jags lead to 4-1.
Montoya scored for ULL in the 90th minutes, just before the final whistle, for the final score of 4-2.
The Jags regular season finale will get started at 1pm at The Cage when they host ULM Warhawks. As tradition for Senior Day, the seniors will be honored during the pregame. The match, along with all the lady Jaguar matches, are free to the public.
Jaguar Women’s Soccer Host ULL, ULM In Regular Season Finale
The South Alabama women’s soccer team will conclude their regular season schedule with home matches against Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana-Lafayette.
The Jags (10-5-2, 3-2-1 SBC) will face ULL (8-5-2, 5-1-0 SBC) on Thursday at 7pm. Then they will host ULM (6-10-1, 1-5-0 SBC) on Sunday afternoon.
The team will be wearing pink on Thursday for Breast Cancer Awareness then will hold a silent auction on-site for four NCAA pink soccer balls used in the weekend’s matches. Money raised from the auction will be presented to Troy in support of it’s “Project 19 Campaign.”
Sunday will be Senior Day as 14 Jaguars will be recognized during pregame. Both matches will be free to the public at The Cage, which is located on Old Shell Road just east of Eddie Stanky Field.
The Jags will travel to San Marcos, Texas for the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament on November 6-10 despite the outcomes this weekend. However they look to improve their conference standing as well as improve on their 4-1-1 home record.
Go Jags!
USA Continues To Prepare For Texas State
South Alabama first-year defensive coordinator Kevin Sherrer talks with the defense on the sidelines during the Jags game against Kent State.
The Jaguars continue to hone their gameplan for Texas State in hopes of spoiling the Bobcat’s homecoming.
USA’s defense is preparing for the Texas State offense who use the option and has a potent running game. Meanwhile the Jaguar offense is preparing a defense with a strong front seven and a defense that leads the conference in scoring defense.
“I thought it was really good,” head coach Joey Jones explained to AL.com about Wednesday mornings practice. “I thought we’re starting, especially on defense, to pick up our assignments a little better. We need another good day though. But I thought we’re moving towards being pretty good.”
Execution will be key for the Jags on Saturday, just like anytime they play on the road. But the bobcats will want to defeat the Jags at home on homecoming. The bobcat defense plays very disciplined and rarely gives up long runs while doing a good job of swarming to the football.
The Jaguar offensive line will have a challenge as Texas State will look to put pressure on the quarterback and stopping the running game.
Head coach Joey Jones challenged his team to continue to get better. He told them, “…we’re at the midway point of the season and great teams get better as the season ends and finish strong. That was my challenge to them.”
The Jags are coming off of a 38-21 non-conference win over Kent State. This was the Jaguars first win by more than seven points since the Jags 35-3 win over Mississippi Valley State in 2011.
USA (3-3 overall, 1-1 Sun Belt) and Texas State (4-3, 1-2 SBC) will kickoff at 6pm CDT on Saturday in Sam Marcos, Texas. Play-by-play will be available on 105.5 FM WNSP and streamed worldwide on www.wnsp.com. We have reached out to Texas State for confirmation if video of the game will be streamed online through their video portal for a fee.
USA vs Texas State By The Numbers
Last night’s win by Louisiana-Lafayette over Arkansas State puts them in first place in the Sun Belt standings. ULL (5-2 overall, 3-0 SBC) won 23-7 over the Red Wolves.
South Alabama is tied with Arkansas State and UL-Monroe at 1-1 in Conference play.
ULL sits on top of the conference in scoring offense with an average of 35.5 points per game, Troy is second with 34.4 ppg and the Jags rank third with a 31.3 ppg average. Texas State ranks 6th with an average of 23.0 points per game.
However Texas State ranks first in the conference in scoring defense by allowing an average of 22.6 points per game. The Jags rank fourth by allowing an average of 28.5 points per game.
Troy leads the Sun Belt in total offense with an average of 486.9 yards per game, South Alabama ranks 4th with an average of 452.8 yards per game with Texas State coming in last with an average of 314.9 yards per game.
ULL leads the conference in rushing offense with Texas State coming in fourth with an average of 186.3 yards per game on the ground. The Jags rank right behind them with an average of 175.0 yards per game rushing.
Troy leads the conference in passing offense with an average of 327.7 yards per game passing. South Alabama is second in the conference with an average of 277.8 yards per game passing. Texas State ranks last in the conference with only 128.6 yards per game passing from their option offense.
Troy also leads the conference in passing efficiency with a rating of 157.2 while the Jags rank fifth with a 132.9 rating. Texas State is seventh with a rating of 100.1.
The total defense leader is Western Kentucky by allowing an average of 350 yards per game. Texas State ranks third by allowing an average of 381 yards per game. South Alabama ranks fourth by allowing an average of 410 yards per game.
Texas State if the leader in rushing defense in the conference by allowing a mere 100.3 yards per game on the ground. The Jags rank fourth in the conference allowing an average of 163.0 yards per game on the ground.
WKU leads the passing defense standings by allowing only 170.1 yards per game through the air. The Jags rank sixth in the confernece by allowing 247.0 yards per game through the air.
Texas State ranks first in the conference in pass defense efficiency with a 115.3 rating. The Jags are sixth with a 134.1 rating.
In special teams rankings, the Jags are second in the conference with an average return of 25.9 yards per kickoff return. Texas State is third with an average of 25.7 yards per return. Though Texas State takes the top spot in punt return average with 12.5 yards per return. The Jags rank sixth with an average return of 5.9 yards.
Texas State ranks second in the conference in punting with a net average per punt of 40.1 yards. The Jags rank fifth with a net average of 35.3 yards per punt.
The Jags rank fifth in the conference in Field Goal percentage as Aleem Sunanon is 7-of-12 on the season for a .583 average. Texas State ranks last (7th) in the conference as they are 4-of-9 on the year for a .444 average.
Texas State is tied with UL-Lafayette for first place in the conference in interceptions with nine through seven games. The Jags rank third with seven interceptions through six games.
South Alabama and Troy are tied atop the ranking for defensive sacks with 15. Texas State is third with 13. Texas State also ranks first in the conference by allowing only nine sacks while the Jags are tied with Troy, UL-Monroe, WKU and UL-Lafayette with 12 sacks allowed.
In third down conversions, South Alabama ranks fifth by converting 41.9 percent into first downs. Texas State ranks last in the conference by only converting 32.3 percent of their third downs into first downs.
Texas State ranks second in the conference in opponents third down conversion rate by allowing their opponents to convert 36.2 percent of their attempts. The jags ranks sixth with opponents converting 40 percent of their attempts.
Texas State converts 37.5 percent of their fourth down attempts, good for fourth place. The jags are sixth in the conference with a 27.3 percent conversion rate.
South Alabama ranks fifth in the conference in penalties with an average of 56.3 yards per game while Texas State ranks seventh with an average of 67.3 yards per game.
Time of possession ranking has Texas State on top with an average of 32:50 while the Jags rank fifth with 30:08 per game.
Texas State is second in the conference in turnover margin with +5 the Jags are fourth with +1.
Non-AQ Top 10 Rankings
This week’s Non-AQ Top 10:
|
Non-AQ Top 10
|
|||
|
RK
|
TEAM
|
RECORD
|
PTS
|
|
1
|
Fresno
State (9) |
6-0
|
108
|
|
2
|
Northern
Illinois (2) |
7-0
|
98
|
|
3
|
Brigham
Young |
5-2
|
85
|
|
4
|
Ball
State |
7-1
|
71
|
|
5
|
Boise
State |
5-2
|
70
|
|
6
|
Bowling
Green |
5-2
|
51
|
|
7
|
East
Carolina |
5-2
|
41
|
|
8
|
Louisiana
|
4-2
|
22
|
|
9
|
Tulane
|
5-2
|
20
|
|
10
|
Ohio
|
5-2
|
17
|
Dropped from rankings: Marshall
Others receiving votes: Marshall 12, Rice 5, Toledo 4,
Buffalo 2.
USA Volleyball’s Lewis Earns Back-To-Back Freshman Weekly Honors
Jessica Lewis earned her third Freshman of the Week honor this season and the first back-to-back weekly honor in program history. Photo by Brad Puckett | usajaguars.com
South Alabama’s Jessica Lewis earned her third Freshman of the Week honor on Monday. This marks back-to-back weeks she has earned the honor as well.
In all, this is the fifth weekly award for the Jaguar volleyball program and only the 11th time a Jaguar has earned a conference weekly honor in program history. This is the first time in the program’s history that a student-athlete has been honored with weekly honors in consecutive weeks.
Lewis led the Jags with 31 kills and 22 digs over the weekend. She began the weekend with 12 kills and seven digs at Texas-Arlington. Then on Sunday she earned her first double-double with 19 kills and a career high 15 digs at Texas State.
Lewis ranks second on the team and fifth in the conference in kills with 3.19 per set while also ranking seventh in the conference in points with 3.49.
The Jags will host Texas State on Friday at 7pm and Louisiana-Lafayette on Sunday at 1pm at Jag Gym.