JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team dropped a tough 2-1 decision to Tennessee Tech on Sunday to close out the opening weekend of Ohio Valley Conference play.

After opening the league slate last Thursday with a win over Morehead State, the Gamecocks split the opening weekend in OVC with the setback and fell to 4-6 overall.  The Golden Eagles of TTU picked up their second OVC win of the weekend and improved to 4-4-3 on the season.

Jax State finished with a nine-shot advantage on TTU with 16 total shots, but the Golden Eagles managed to post a pair of goals within two minutes in the opening half and stave off multiple JSU scoring chances throughout the final 45 minutes.  TTU turned in nine shots in the road win.

TTU put the first goal of the contest on the board in the 29^th minute as Cassidy Ortman headed a serve from Zoie Hensley and squeezed the ball just inside the left post.  The Golden Eagles had 10 of their 12 corner kick chances in the first half and it led to their second goal of the half in the 31^st minute.  Karigan Owens took the corner from the right side of the pitch and set up Abi Gearing for the header to the far post.

Jax State kept the pressure on TTU throughout the contest, including nine scoring chances in the second half as it finished with seven on goal opportunities.  The Gamecocks broke through for their lone goal in the 80^th minute after senior Courtney Hurt fed Kelsey Bright with a perfect ball as Bright flicked the ball in to the net.  It was Bright's second goal of the weekend and third of the season.

The goal energized the Jax State side, but TTU managed to fend off the Gamecocks in the final 10 minutes of the contest. 

The Gamecocks will make the long trek to the state of Illinois next weekend as they will take on SIU Edwardsville on Friday, Oct. 2, followed by a Sunday contest at Eastern Illinois.