Sept. 25, 2005

Final Stats

MONTGOMERY, Ala. - For most of Saturday's women's soccer match against Columbus (Ga.) State, Alabama State played aggressive defense, enough to keep the Lady Cougars from creating many scoring opportunities.

But in the 51st minute, a foul by Maiya Moore set up a penalty kick for Columbus State's Kellie Myles, who banged it home past ASU keeper Candise Jacobs to give the Lady Cougars the lead. The Lady Hornets would then allow two more goals in the next seven minutes as they fell 3-0 at the YMCA Complex.

After watching his team battle gamely against Columbus State, Lady Hornets coach Kendall Phillips saw his team lose some steam after the tiebreaking goal.

"After the penalty kick, they seemed frustrated and put their heads down," head coach Kendal Phillips said. "Then we got some unlucky bounces. That's just the way it goes sometimes."

Myles scored her second goal of the match four minutes later when she booted a shot from 17 feet that hit the cross bar and barely bounced over the line for a score. In the 59th minute, she and Judith Ospina assisted on a goal by Kathryn Atwater that Jacobs misplayed and meekly bounced through her legs.

While the Lady Hornets (0-9) did well defensively, Phillips said his team is not putting in the effort offensively. ASU has yet to score a goal this season and against CSU attempted only three shot - one of which was on goal.

"We're not working hard enough on the offensive end. It seems like we're always playing defense," Phillips said. "It's like we're happy just clearing the ball instead of moving the ball up the field. We're just playing too much defense."

Still, Phillips said he feels the team is in position to make in move in the Southwestern Athletic Conference standings when the team begins eight-straight conference matches with a contest at Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Sept. 30.

"We're looking a lot better than we did our first couple of games," Phillips said. "I have a strong feeling it's going to get better once we start playing in conference."