South Alabama soccer overcame an early deficit and scored five times after halftime to beat Louisiana-Lafayette 7-1 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference tournament.
The six-goal margin was the largest postseason victory in the history of the Jaguars program. Top-seeded South Alabama advanced to Friday’s semifinals.
Early Answer After Cajuns Score First
Louisiana-Lafayette took a 1-0 lead early when the Ragin’ Cajuns put away a loose ball in front of the goal following a throw-in.
South Alabama answered 1:35 later, equalizing on a header off a cross from senior Alyssa Mayer.
Sophomore Charde Hannah put the Jaguars in front in the 29th minute, finishing a breakaway set up by sophomore Steffi Hardy. The goal was Hannah’s eighth of the season, the most on the team, and gave South Alabama a 2-1 lead at the break.
Jones Scores Twice in Second Half
Sophomore Ashlynn Jones scored two of the Jaguars’ five second-half goals. In the 57th minute, she ran onto a long ball from senior Nini Rabsatt-Smith and beat the goalkeeper with a low shot. A little more than four and a half minutes later, Jones converted a pass from freshman Jemma Purfield into the left side of the net for a 4-1 lead.
The fifth goal began at the other end. Junior goalkeeper Sarah Hay collected a Louisiana-Lafayette free kick and distributed to Purfield, who found Jones in the middle of the field. Jones passed to senior Jordan Duncan, who slipped the ball past a defender to sophomore Danielle Henley. Henley scored from just inside the 18-yard box as the goalkeeper came out.
Duncan added a goal of her own in the 76th minute after Sophie Haywood split two defenders and set her up. Junior Anisa Patterson closed the scoring in the 84th minute off a deflection from junior Nikki Shirtcliffe.
By the Numbers
- South Alabama put 13 of its 16 shots on target, seven of them in the second half.
- The Jaguars have scored 16 goals over their last three matches.
Winkworth Pleased With Depth
Head coach Graham Winkworth said the team needed time to adjust to the playing surface.
“I thought we did well,” Winkworth said. “We started off a bit slowly, getting used to the change in surface, but I thought the girls handled it very well. Overall, I was pleased with the result and the performance wasn’t too bad at all.”
Winkworth used a large number of substitutes and said the level of play held up.
“What pleased me is the level of play didn’t drop once we made a number of changes,” he said. “It just shows that team is not about whoever starts the match, but it’s a squad game and I was really pleased with the squad overall today.”
Appalachian State Next
South Alabama, the tournament’s No. 1 seed, will play No. 4 seed Appalachian State on Friday at 3 p.m. The winner advances to Sunday’s championship match against the winner of the semifinal between No. 2 seed Troy and No. 6 seed Georgia State.
“Appalachian is a very good team,” Winkworth said. “They have a lot of depth and use a lot of numbers. They work extremely hard and are well-coached, so I think it will be a very tough game.”
