JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team suffered its first loss of the season after dropping a 3-0 decision to Lipscomb on Friday night at the JSU Soccer Field.
The Gamecocks dropped to 2-1 overall and will look to bounce back from the result on Sunday with a battle with in-state rival North Alabama on Sunday in Florence, Alabama. Kick off is set for 1 p.m. on the UNA campus and the contest will be streamed on ESPN+, the online platform of ESPN.
The Lady Bisons, who picked up their first road win of the season, stuck quickly with all three goals within the first 20 minutes of the outing. Olivia Doak put LU on the scoreboard in the 10th minute with a goal right in front of the Jax State goal. Maycie McKay, who had an assist on two of the three goals on the night, recorded her first of the night on the opening goal. Three minutes later LU added the second goal on the foot of Kaitlin Echols for a 2-0 lead. Hailey Eck capped off the scoring during an eight-minute span with a goal in the 18th minute. McKay helped with her second assist of the evening.
"It was a really poor opening 20 minutes obviously and I have to give the girls credit for the second half performance. We changed some things tactically and they bought in to what we were doing and you could see that we managed to hold them in the second half and created a couple of chances for ourselves in the second half," said head coach
Neil Macdonald.
After collecting 12 of its 18 shots in the first half, JSU limited LU to six in the second half. JSU posted a pair of shots in each half.
"We have to have a 90-minute effort and it can't be a 45-minute affair for us, but a lot of plus moments from some individuals tonight," added Macdonald. "I thought
Briana Eads was fantastic tonight,
Anna Luque played really well, so we had some young players really step up. Lipscomb is a quality club and as good of a team that we will play.
Eads, from Orange City, Florida and Luque Bonaire, Georgia logged all 90 minutes each in the result. JSU goalkeeper
Chloe Russo accumulated eight saves against the Lady Bisons.
"I told them that you have to build off the second half. It is all about mentality now and you haver to pick yourself up and this is the nature of college soccer is – you lose on Friday; you have to bounce back quickly on Sunday. We have to make sure we do a good job on Saturday in our training," continued Macdonald.
The Gamecocks will look to even the series with the Lions after dropping a 1-0 decision in Jacksonville. The UNA match will be the beginning of four consecutive matches against programs within the Yellowhammer State. Following Sunday at UNA, Jax State will travel to Troy and Alabama State next weekend before returning to the JSU Soccer Field on Thursday, September 12, hosting the Crimson Tide of Alabama.
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