JACKSONVILLE, Ala. — The Jax State soccer squad will open Conference USA play on the road against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. Action from the Dean A. Hayes Track & Soccer Stadium is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday, September 21.
Jax State carries a 6-2-2 record into the match, and is riding a five-game win streak, which is the longest such streak since 2012. Last time out, Jax State handed Mercer its first home loss of the 2025 season in a 2-0 victory in Macon, Ga. The Gamecocks held the Bears to just a single shot on goal and took five corner kicks within the first 12 minutes of the game. Louise Featherstone scored in just the 13th minute to take a 1-0 lead, and Amelia Jacobs scored her fourth goal of the week in the 71st minute to put the dagger in Mercer.
Middle Tennessee is 5-3-2 on the season so far, most recently defeating Evansville 2-0 to get back in the win column after a streak of two losses and a tie.
The Gamecocks and the Blue Raiders have faced common opponents in the non-conference portion of the season in Jackson State, Alabama A&M, and West Georgia. Both teams won all three of those games, with MTSU winning by a combined score of 8-0 while Jax State won those by a combined score of 7-3.
For the third time in program history, Jax State has won five games in a row, tying the longest winning streak in program history. The other times it happened was in 1999 and in 2012. The 2012 streak is notable as that was part of a seven-game unbeaten streak, where the Gamecocks won five games before earning a draw and one more win to complete the seven-game streak. 2002 also saw the Gamecocks go on a seven-game unbeaten streak with a four game win stream, a draw, then two more wins.
The Gamecocks and Blue Raiders have met a total of 12 times so far, with the Blue Radiers leading the series 8-3-1. The first meeting was in 1998, where Middle Tennessee won 3-2 in Murfreesboro. Jax State won the next two matches, 3-0 in 1999 and 2-1 in 2001, but would not win another game in the series until 2017, when the Gamecocks knocked off MTSU with a 4-1 effort at home. MTSU has won both of the previous matches by a score of 3-0.
Two Gamecocks were named Conference USA Players of the Week for their efforts in last week's 2-0 week. Amelia Jacobs earned the first weekly conference honor of her career after being named Offensive Player of the Week. Jacobs scored four goals and tallied an assist for nine points on the week. She was also named to Top Drawer Soccer's National Team of the Week for her efforts. Raegan Whitaker earned her second-straight Defensive Player of the Week honor and is the only player in CUSA soccer so far to go back-to-back in weekly honors.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Dean A. Hayes Track & Soccer Stadium and will be aired on ESPN+.
