JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team will begin its final home weekend of the season by celebrating its senior class on Thursday night as the Gamecocks host Bellarmine at the JSU Soccer Field.
Match time with the Knights is set for 7 p.m. The program will honor the seven seniors prior to the start of the ASUN contest. JSU will conclude the home slate on Sunday against Eastern Kentucky at 1 p.m. Admission is free to all home soccer matches.
This weekend marks the final home matches for the large senior class. The class has provided leadership on and off the field for the JSU program and will leave their marks in the program record books. JSU will honor
Morgan Lerch,
Kimberly McPhearson,
Isobel Spray,
Gabriel Clarke,
Briana Eads,
Cynthia Bagozzi and
Ali Thomas.
Lerch, a fifth-year player, will exit the program as one of the top goalkeepers all-time at JSU with 276 career saves and 11 shutouts. She ranks fourth in career saves and shutouts. McPhearson has played in 15 matches over a two-year span at JSU and has four shots in 2022. Spray has been one of the anchors in the midfield spot over the last four seasons. She has logged over 3,200 minutes and recorded a goal in the spring season of 2021. Clarke was a mainstay in the lineup until an injury shortened her season. She collected five goals in her career, including a two-goal match in the spring slate of 2021. Eads, a pillar on the JSU backline has started 61 matches and has logged over 5,400 minutes on the pitch, which ranks ninth all-time at JSU. Bagozzi, an offensive threat since her first steps on campus, has 17 career goals and ranks tenth on JSU's career goals list. Thomas, another fifth-year player in the class, has played in 58 matches in her career with three goals and a pair of assists in a Gamecock uniform.
The Gamecocks enter the final two home outings after being away from Jacksonville the last two weekends. JSU (2-11-1, 0-5-1 ASUN) will be looking for its first conference win after falling to North Florida and North Alabama along with a draw against Central Arkansas over the last two weekends on the road.
Bagozzi now shares the top spot on the team in goals scored with junior
Kylie Wells. Wells tallied both goals in Jax State's 2-2 draw with UCA to push her total to three on the season with Bagozzi. Wells continues to lead the club in total shots with 34 shots, including 20 shots on goal opportunities.
Thursday's match up with Bellarmine is just the second meeting between the two sides as the Knights make a second consecutive visit to Jacksonville after playing the Gamecocks to a 1-1 draw in 2021 in the first season in the ASUN. Former Gamecock Reily Kucko scored for Jax State last season against BU.
Sunday's home finale with EKU will be a reunion of former Ohio Valley Conference mates and now ASUN members. EKU is making its first visit to Jacksonville since the conference change and the 2019 season. Jax State blanked the Colonels, 4-0, in the last meeting as OVC foes in the spring season of 2021. Today marks the 18th meeting all time with EKU claiming 12-of-the-last-17 outings between the two sides.
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