App State soccer faced Southern Miss Thursday for their final home game of the season. The Mountaineers continued their dominance in Boone with a 1-0 win over the Golden Eagles.

The only goal of the match came early. Within two minutes of starting the game, the Black and Gold had an opportunity created by senior forward Izzi Wood. Wood controlled the ball down the sideline before crossing it into the box. The ball took a deflection off the Southern Miss goalkeeper right to freshman midfielder Olivia Simon, who headed the ball in for a Mountaineer goal. The goal pushed Simon to her fourth on the season and Wood’s third assist.

The rest of the first half saw several missed opportunities. Southern Miss outshot App State 9-6, but neither side produced a goal.

In the second half, both defenses held strong. The Mountaineers forced three saves from Southern Miss, but once again neither side could score. Freshman forward Summer Bowman led the Black and Gold with three shots on goal, and the offense created seven scoring opportunities to just four from the Golden Eagles. With the lone score being so early in the match, App State’s defense needed to remain stout to hang on for a win.

Strong defense at home has been the theme for App State in 2023. The Mountaineers only allowed two goals all season in Boone.

The Black and Gold’s shutout against Southern Miss allowed graduate student goalkeeper Kerry Eagleston to tie two App State goalkeeping records. With 24 career shutouts Eagleston is now tied with Breland Meany for the most in school history. Additionally, this was Eagleston’s 7th shutout of the season tying Meany and Caroline Clarke for the most in a single season at App State.

With the win Thursday, the Mountaineers improve to 7-5-3 on the season. The Black and Gold rank third in the Sun Belt East Division standings, two points behind first place Old Dominion.

Sunday, App State will travel to Arkansas for a match against Arkansas State at 1 p.m. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.