JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team won for the third time in the last four outings with a 3-1 win over Morehead State on Friday afternoon at the JSU Soccer Field.
The Gamecocks are unbeaten over the last four matches with the lone tie coming against UT Martin last Tuesday night. JSU improved to 3-3-1 on the season, while the Eagles fell to 1-6 overall. Jax State picked up three crucial points toward qualifying for one the four spots in the Ohio Valley Conference Soccer Championship.
JSU shook off a sluggish start to the contest after the Eagles registered the first goal of the contest. MSU's Nicole Palmer in the 18th minute.
"I thought we started a little bit slow today with it being a warmer day today and not used to that and got ourselves behind, but all credit to them, they battled back," said head coach
Neil Macdonald.
Redshirt freshman
Ida Cederberg sparked the come-from-behind result with her second goal of the season in the 25th minute. Freshman
Kylie Wells and sophomore
Cynthia Bagozzi started the scoring play ahead of Cederberg's netted ball.
The Gamecocks broke the 1-1 deadlock with a goal by junior
Ali Thomas in the 62nd minute. Senior
Alicia Pallister collected sixth assist of the season. The reigning OVC Offensive Player of the Week extended her league lead in assists.
Thomas and Cederberg registered a team-high three shots each in the outing.
JSU added an insurance goal three minutes later off the foot of Bagozzi. The Orlando, Florida native finished with three points in the contest and has nine on the season.
"We got ourselves back in it with a quality goal and then we built off of it from there," added Macdonald. "The performance in the second was much better."
The Gamecocks entered the match as one of the top shooting teams in the conference and they will continue to be one of the league leaders in that category with 22 shots with 14 of those coming in the second half. JSU's defense held the Eagles to nine shots on the day.
Redshirt junior goalkeeper
Morgan Lerch tallied five saves and picked up her third win in goal.
JSU will take its final road trip of the regular season next Tuesday with a trek to Charleston, Illinois for a match up with Eastern Illinois. Match time is set for 2 p.m. on the EIU campus.