JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville State capped off the soccer season in fine fashion with a 2-0 blanking of SIU Edwardsville on a brisk Sunday afternoon at the JSU Soccer Field.

The Gamecocks finish the season at 4-11-2 overall and 2-7-1 in the OVC, while the Cougars fell to 5-9-1 on the season and 4-5-1 in league play.  The loss hampered SIUE's 2018 OVC Tournament standing with the setback as it dropped from third place to a tie for fifth with Belmont.  JSU finishes the final weekend at 1-0-1 after recording a scoreless draw on Friday against Eastern Illinois.

Jax State carried momentum from the hard-fought outing on Friday in to the Sunday's finale and it paid off with a goal in the 16th minute and added an insurance goal in the second half.  The program honored its two seniors – Madison Carruthers and Claire Petersen on Friday night prior to the EIU match and it was fitting that one of the two leaders score the first goal of the game.  Carruthers, from Frankford, Ontario, Canada, scored her second goal of the season in the 16^th minute after sophomore Alicia Pallister directed the ball from the right side of the pitch to the left for Carruthers to put it away in from of the SIUE goalkeeper.

"It was a great finish and a very difficult angle to finish from," said head coach Neil Macdonald.  "I think the keeper miss-timed the ball and it was a great finish for Madison."

The Gamecocks would carry that advantage through the halftime break, finishing with eight shots in the opening half.  JSU turned in 11 total shots, while SIUE had 13 on the day.

SIUE had opportunities early in the second half to equalize, but was denied in the box with the play of the JSU backline and goalkeeper Morgan Lerch.  Lerch, playing the program from her backyard of Collinsville, Illinois, turned in six stops on the day.  The redshirt freshman collected 81 saves in her first season in goal.

JSU tacked on the second goal in the 51st minute with Chloe Doherty's team-leading fourth goal of the season.  Doherty finished off a pass in to the box from junior Rachel Blanding.  Doherty was on the opposite side to send it in to the back of the net.

The Gamecocks will look to build for next year off the final result of the season, a season in which they were hindered by injuries throughout the season.

"We played with ton of commitment and worked really hard, which was fantastic," mention Macdonald.  "I think we fully deserved this result and we will look back on the year with frustration with all the injuries we have had throughout.  I think the girls showed their quality and commitment level especially when things got difficult."