App State women’s soccer tied James Madison University 1-1 Sunday at the Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex.
The matchup doubled as the team’s Pink Game, an event dedicated to raising awareness for breast cancer, a cause head coach Aimee Haywood said holds personal significance.
“I think it’s important that we honor the ladies for breast cancer awareness,” Haywood said. “It’s meaningful to me. I lost my own mom from breast cancer 35 years ago now. It means a lot to me that we come out here and honor not just the survivors, but everyone who has battled.”
Four minutes into the match, the Mountaineers scored the opening goal after the ball found the foot of junior midfielder Olivia Simon for her second goal of the season.
“I saw a great team goal,” Haywood said. “I saw some good connecting through our midfield. Shannon hit a good diagonal ball out wide, Kyli taking someone on 1-versus-1, a great cross in and literally just numbers working for that goal.”
Later in the first half, the Dukes scored on their first shot on goal, with James Madison defender Jordan Yang finding the net.
The first half ended with the Dukes outshooting the Mountaineers 7-3, but all three of the Black and Gold’s shots were on goal as the teams went into halftime tied 1-1.
James Madison kept the pressure on App State freshman goalkeeper Hanna Skogsfors, forcing her to make a diving save against a Dukes’ attacker shooting in front of the net. The Black and Gold struggled offensively to start the second half, not producing a shot for the first 20 minutes.
With the match coming to a close, neither team threatened to score until the last 5 seconds, with the Mountaineers needing to defend a corner kick from the Dukes. The ball was deflected out of danger, and the game ended.
“I’ve been really proud of my team,” Haywood said. “I think it was a quick turnaround to play a really good Coastal team on the road down in Conway on Thursday and turn around and play a really tough JMU team here on Sunday.”
App State travels to Monroe, Louisiana to take on the University of Louisiana Monroe on Saturday. The game kicks off at 8 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
