JACKSONVILLE – The Jacksonville State soccer team continues its road trip this weekend with a pair of matches on Thursday night and Sunday afternoon.
The Gamecocks trek to Conway, Arkansas to start the weekend with a Thursday night ASUN Conference outing with Central Arkansas. The weekend wraps up closer to home for JSU as it will stop in Florence, Alabama on Sunday to face North Alabama. Thursday's tussle with the Sugar Bears is set for 7 p.m., while the UNA duel will start at 1 p.m. Both matches will be available on ESPN+.
JSU will be looking to halt a conference skid and pick up its first points in the ASUN standings after four tough setbacks to start conference play. UCA enter the weekend 4-7-2 overall and 2-3-1 in the ASUN after splitting a road trip at Liberty and Queens (N.C.) last weekend. UCA returned to the win column after dropping the previous two matches with a 2-1 decision over the Royals. Jax State will be making a second consecutive trip to Conway, Arkansas after falling last season at the Bill Stephens Track/Soccer Complex on the UCA campus.
Even though JSU and UNA are longtime rivals across all athletics, Sunday's meeting will be just the fourth all-time between the two on the pitch. The Gamecocks will be looking to make it two in a row over the Lions in Florence as they blanked the Purple and Gold in 2021, 1-0, to propel them into the 2021 ASUN Soccer Tournament. UNA claimed wins over Jax State in 2018 and 2019.
Senior
Cynthia Bagozzi continues to lead the JSU offense with three goals and 15 total shots. She is joined by junior
Vanessa Mejia as the two Gamecocks with multiple goals this season. Sophomore
Laleh Lonteen is the team leader in assists with two. She also has a goal this season. Junior
Kylie Wells is the club leader in shots with 28 on the season with just over half of those on-goal chances. Wells ranks sixth in the ASUN in total chances and second in the league in shots on goal (16).
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