JACKSONVILLE – After a tough Friday night result, the Jacksonville State soccer team bounced-back in a defensive struggle with a 1-0 win over Georgia Southern on Sunday afternoon at the JSU Soccer Field.
The win gave JSU a split of the home weekend after falling to Gardner-Webb, 1-0, on Friday. The Gamecocks improved to 4-2 on the season, while handing the Eagles their second loss of the season and snapping their three-match winning streak. JSU also collected its third win over GSU in the five all-time meetings.
After a sluggish start on both sides and a scoreless 45 minutes of action, the Gamecocks put the lone goal on the scoreboard in the 50th minute. Junior
Reilly Kucko finished off a cross from sophomore
Cynthia Bagozzi with a clean look past the GSU goalkeeper. Senior
Alicia Pallister started the run with a feed to Bagozzi down the right side of the pitch.
"I was delighted that she (
Reilly Kucko) picked up a goal today since her play every day deserves it," said head coach
Neil Macdonald. "I think in the second half we were really excellent and we moved the ball very well."
After accumulating 35 shots on Friday night against Gardner-Webb, the Gamecocks finished with 17 on the afternoon and limited the Eagles to just three shots in each 45-minute period. Freshman
Lauren Hooten, who made her first start of the season, and Kucko finished with three opportunities, while freshman
Laleh Lonteen added three off the bench. Freshman
Kylie Wells and sophomore
Briana Eads registered a pair of shots.
Redshirt junior
Morgan Lerch turned in a clean worksheet with her third shutout of the season and her 11th in her career and taking over the fourth spot on the program's career shutouts list.
"I think the girls showed a lot of character today because it was such a hard loss on Friday and we knew Georgia Southern is a very good team," added Macdonald. "I thought
Briana Eads and Brookelyn (Still) were very solid again today."
After three consecutive home matches, the Gamecocks will play four of the next five matches away from the confines of the JSU Soccer Field. Next weekend, JSU will travel to Troy on Thursday, Sept. 9 before wrapping up the weekend in Birmingham, Ala. with a visit to Samford. Both matches will be available on ESPN+. The Gamecocks return home on Thursday, Sept. 16 hosting former Ohio Valley Conference foe Belmont.
