BATON ROUGE, La. – The Alabama State University women's soccer team played another stellar defensive game on Sunday afternoon, keeping the same score for the full 90 minutes in a 0-0 tie against the Southern Jaguars in a Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) contest at A.W. Mumford Stadium.
The Hornets (2-10-3, 2-3-2 SWAC) have had one of the better defenses in the conference for most of the season, proven in earlier low-scoring or shutout matches and once again put on display against the Jaguars (2-8-3, 2-2-2 SWAC), who remain one spot above ASU in the conference standings as both teams are locked into a SWAC Championship Tournament spot heading into the final regular season game.
Junior
Lamya Foughal looked to jump-start the game similar to Thursday's big performance, attempting a pair of shots within the first five minutes, with neither finding their way into the goal. Four different Hornets attempted four more shots through the 25th minute, with
Tamami Nishio's top right attempt saved to keep the game even. Southern got more aggressive as the period went on, but continuous misfires left the scoreboard blank at the break.
As most of these contests have been for Bama State this season, the second half has been the more up-tempo period for both sides. ASU tried a pair of on-target goals through 60 minutes, and a good look from second-year striker
Serenity Safeeullah hit right woodwork and bounced out. The Hornets would get just one more shot off on the day, but thanks to a valiant effort by senior keeper
Deetya Satyal, the other net was untouched as both sides came away with the same result.
In the battle of the goalkeepers, Satyal had the best performance of the three who took the field, saving six on-target shots from going in while facing 13 total attempts. SU's Sidney Wooldridge played the first 12 minutes and was relieved by Sydney Whitten, the latter of whom made a pair of saves in 78 minutes of play.
Defender
Tielua Baptista led the team in shots with three despite being the lone player to come off the bench today. Foughal had a pair, while she and
Tamami Nishio had the lone on-target tries for the Black and Gold.
As for postseason play, Alabama State is locked into the tournament as at least a seventh seed, by way of the team's victory over Prairie View A&M on October 8. Southern, currently in the sixth spot, would need to give a lot of help to the Hornets if the two were to trade places, as Southern has two more games to play, while ASU only has one. For now, however, Bama State can be confident that the 2026 campaign will go beyond the regular season finale.
That one final regular season game for the Lady Hornets will be at the ASU Soccer Complex on Sunday, Nov. 1, when it will welcome the top seeded Jackson State Tigers to town for a rematch of last season's postseason battle, which the Tigers won, 4-0. Kickoff time is set for 1 p.m.
