MOBILE, Ala. – For the first time in 16 meetings between Jacksonville State and Troy, the two sides played to a scoreless draw on Friday afternoon at The Cage on the South Alabama campus to open the Jaguar Invitational.
It was the second consecutive scoreless draw for the Gamecocks after playing Georgia State to a draw last Sunday at the JSU Soccer Field. Jax State remained unbeaten in its last four matches with the second draw in as many outings. JSU will take a 2-1-2 record in to Sunday's contest against host-South Alabama at 2:30 p.m. USA faced Alabama in the second contest on Friday. The Trojans (2-3-1) will take on the Crimson Tide to open Sunday's action.
It was a defensive battle throughout with each team having offensive momentum in each half. JSU had three shots in the opening half to match the Trojans, while surviving an active shooting half by Troy in the final 45 minutes of regulation. Troy had seven opportunities in the second half and one in the first overtime. JSU had chances for a golden goal in each of the two 10 minute extra sessions, but could not produce the game winner. Troy finished with an 11-8 advantage in total shots.
Two JSU freshmen led the offensive attack as
Kelly Snook and
Danielle Monroe each had two shots each, while
Danelle Lindo and
Cheyenne Carden had on goal chances.
"It was just a battling performance by both teams and I give our young guys credited because they never stopped," said head coach
Neil Macdonald. "I thought we controlled the game in the opening half and they (Troy) started to press us a little more in the second half."
Senior goalkeeper
Caroline Robinson turned in another clean worksheet in the 110 minutes and collected five saves against the Trojans. Robinson secured her second shutout of the season and her 12.5 blanking of her career.
"The good thing is that we competed for the entire game. We need to create more at the top and stick to the plan." added Macdonald.
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