App State soccer traveled to Mobile, Alabama to take on South Alabama Thursday, losing 3-1 in a match that marked their first Sun Belt conference loss this season. A good defensive performance in the first half from the Black and Gold couldn’t continue throughout the final period as the Jaguars scored all three of their goals after intermission.
Although the result did not go the way of the team, freshman forward Summer Bowman continued her hot streak scoring her third goal in four matches.
The Mountaineers came into the bout 2-0-2 through their first four conference games, which is the first time since 2013 that the Black and Gold had not dropped a match through their first four conference games.
App State faced a South Alabama team outscoring opponents 33-5 throughout the season, which ranks their offense seventh in the nation. The Jaguars are also the highest ranked Sun Belt team, No. 39 nationally, according to the NCAA Women’s Soccer RPI.
The match began with the Mountaineers coming out hot. Senior forward Izzi Wood received a ball through the Jaguars back line, but sailed it high and right, leaving the score knotted at zero early in the match. The miss allowed South Alabama to immediately get on the offensive and took their chance, but a cross left the ball in the box to be corralled and cleared by graduate student goalkeeper Kerry Eagleston.
While each team took their chances and the game picked up pace, head coach Aimee Haywood and the Mountaineers wanted to slow the game down in the midfield after the first 15 minutes. While it worked for the Black and Gold for some of the first half, the Jaguars began to apply major pressure on the App State defense. However, the back line held strong and entered the last five minutes of the half still deadlocked at zero.
With one minute left in the half, the Mountaineers finally broke out of their half as freshman midfielder Kaytan Kroboth received a ball in the box, but with no opportunity she found Bowman for the tie-breaking first goal in the final moments of the opening half.
The second half was not as kind to App State as the first half. South Alabama came out of the locker room swinging and the Black and Gold looked tired and unable to get to any ball in the second half. The Jaguars cemented their offensive firepower with an equalizer in the 68th minute as the cross found a South Alabama player, and was blasted past Eagleston.
The Jags did not let up after that, denying Wood and junior forward Stephanie Barbosa any space to get out on the ball and do what they do best. They began pushing ten players up at times and the Mountaineer defense was unable to stop the attack as South Alabama took the lead in the 78th minute with a booming shot from outside the box. More of the same from a nightmare second half continued for the App State defense as they fouled a Jaguars midfielder in the 85th minute and they capitalized on it, extending the South Alabama lead and ending the match on top 3-1.
App State soccer returns to The Valley Sunday as they take on Marshall at 1 p.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
