BIRMINGHAM – Jacksonville State dropped its first match of the season on Thursday with a 6-0 decision to Samford at Shauna Yelton Field.
It was the first road action of the season after opening the season last week with a pair of wins. The Gamecocks will face another Birmingham-based club on Sunday with a trip to downtown Birmingham against the Blazers of UAB.
The Bulldogs, a perennial power in the Southern Conference, proved that in the opening 45 minutes with five of their six goals in the first half to take command of the match from the start. Samford tallied the first two goals within the first 15 minutes of the opening half with goals from Brigid McElderry and Kylie Gazza. The home club struck quick in the 32nd minute and the 35th minute and finished the first half scoring with the second of the night for Nikki Bario, who came off the bench for the final two goals.
The lone goal of the second half came off the foot of Samford' Anna Major in the 78th minute.
"It is part of the process, we have trained poorly on Tuesday and Wednesday and it is a lesson that we will have to learn. We are young, they (Samford) are old with a lot of graduate players and return 23 players from last year and that was a big difference," said head coach Sean Fraser.
Samford finished the night with 30 shots, including 17 in the first half. The Gamecocks were limited offensively with one shot, which came from junior
Laleh Lonteen.
It is my fault; it is not the girls fault because I have to get them ready. It is me that drives the standard on Tuesday and Wednesday and then let them come out here and play like that on Thursday. As a young team, we will learn from this and we have a few bumps and bruises. We go again on Sunday, so we have to recover," added Fraser.
Sunday's UAB contest will get started at 6 p.m. on the pitch of UAB's PNC Field. The in-state battle will be streamed on ESPN+. The Blazers picked up their first win of the season on Thursday with a 4-1 result at Alabama State.
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