FLORENCE, Ala. – The Jacksonville State soccer team dropped its first road contest of the season with a 3-0 setback to in-state rival North Alabama on Sunday afternoon at the Bill Jones Athletic Complex on the UNA campus.

The Gamecocks dropped to 2-2 on the season, while UNA improved to 2-2 overall.

The Lions struck for two early goals within the first 13 minutes of the first half to set the tone for the match and limited the Gamecocks offensively throughout the match.  UNA posted the first two goals 10 minutes into the duel as Anna Bove' connected on a ball off of a throw in.  Morgan Ebert was credited with the assist.  Three minutes later, Bove' helped the Lions add the second goal as Shelby Wall had a break-away down the right side off of a long pass from Bove'.  UNA, who had xx total of xx shots, turned in 14 of the 20 in the first half.  JSU finished with six looks at the goal.­

"A very disappointing start to the game and the first half.  We were not competing like we should in the first 15 minutes.  We get them in at halftime and we talk about attitudes and mentalities and in the second half we were the better team, said head coach Neil Macdonald.  "We created more chances than they did.  We have to stop coming out in the first part of the game with miscues."

JSU had four solid looks in the second half to put a goal on the board, but came away empty.  Freshman Cynthia Bagozzi turned in three shots in the second half, while sophomore transfer Cephana Deane had three attempts.

"Cynthia (Bagozzi) works extremely hard and I thought Briana Eads was tremendous again today," mentioned Macdonald.  She just does the job she is asked to do, said Macdonald.

The Lions added a goal in the second half as the duo of Wall and Bove' connected again with Wall finding the back of the net in the 74th minute.

Jax State will travel to Troy on Thursday night and Alabama State next Sunday before returning to the JSU Soccer Field on Thursday, September 12, hosting the Crimson Tide of Alabama.  The Toy match will be available on Facebook Live. 

"We have to hit the ground running on Tuesday and make sure that we work on some things that we have seen this weekend and try and get better for Troy on Thursday," added Macdonald.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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