Box Score MOBILE, Ala. – After a brief weather delay moved the game to a different facility and pushed kickoff back over an hour into the evening, the Alabama State University women's soccer team dropped its first road game of the season, 4-0, to the South Alabama Jaguars at Hancock Whitney Stadium on Thursday night.
The Hornets (0-3 overall) held their own throughout long stretches of the first half, including outshooting its opponents for most of the period, but a go-ahead first-half strike in the 22nd minute gave the Jaguars (1-2) an advantage it would not relinquish as it secured its first win of the season.
Alabama State pressed forward with
Serenity Safeeullah attempting two of the game's first three shots and putting another try on frame in the 44th minute, only to be both outshot and well defended by South Alabama. The ASU defensive unit continued to hassle the Jaguars, limiting its opposition to the lone goal in the first half.
Out of the locker room, it was all South Alabama. A trio of goals in the early second half – including a brace by Aliya Gomes – was part of an 11-shot back half, all but putting the game away in the late-night affair. It wasn't until an 86th-minute shot attempt by
Tielua Baptista that ASU would fire on the goal for the first time in the second half, but it ended up being too late in the end.
South Alabama keeper Mackenzie Smith made a pair of saves in a win for the home squad. Senior goalkeeper
Deetya Satyal, a graduate transfer from Wheeling University in West Virginia, made the start in goal for the Hornets, collecting five saves while allowing three goals in defeat. Each team made a keeper change, with South Alabama's Sierra Giorgio playing the second half and Alabama State's
Valentina Espinel taking the pitch for the final 20 minutes of action.
The team statistics saw Alabama State hold a 5-2 advantage in saves, while South Alabama had a 15-4 edge in shots and a 6-2 advantage in corners on the evening.
The Hornets will return home with the hope of snapping its skid against the Kennesaw State Owls, who will travel to ASU Soccer Complex on Sunday, August 20 for a 1 p.m. matchup in ASU's last home non-conference game of the season.
