JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State University soccer team scored once in each half Sunday en route to claiming its first conference win of the season over Eastern Kentucky, 2-1.
Kristi Periera led the Gamecocks in the victory. Periera was credited with the game-winning goal and finished the day with three points.
Periera helped give JSU an early led in the 40th minute when she connected with Erica West. West got a run on the EKU defense and fired a shot that beat goalkeeper Christina Graul to the top right corner.
In the second half Periera collected a goal of her own at 77:45 on what looked like a mirror image of the Gamecocks’ first goal. Periera ran down a ball in the EKU defensive third and finished the play by sneaking a shot inside the left post.
“Both goals today were good finishes,” JSU head coach Julie Davis said. “The players were able to pull the goalkeeper off her line and that’s something that we’ve improved on. We’ve done it well in practice and we finally saw some of it today in the game.”
JSU dominated the pace of the game from the outset and outshot EKU 24-9. The Gamecocks finished the game with nine shots-on-goal.
“We’ve been up and down this year, but we were able to play a formation today with personnel where we’ve been wanting to put them and our team really stepped up,” Davis said. “We’re a young group that is learning how to stay composed and how to compete for a full 90 minutes. I thought we put two halves together today for the first time all year.”
EKU ended the Gamecocks' bid for a shutout in the 86th minute when Kayla Swearingen scored an unassisted goal from 20 yards out to cut the JSU lead to 2-1. Despite the late goal, EKU was unable to mount another offensive threat.
Following West’s goal in the first half, JSU nearly collected two more goals. Periera hooked up with West minutes later, but a diving Graul deflected West’s shot to the endline. Moments later, Periera stole a pass in the EKU defensive third and fired a shot-on-goal but Graul made another save.
JSU will now prepare for a battle with OVC rival Samford next Friday in Jacksonville. The game will begin at 7 p.m.
