Jaguar Soccer Extends Unbeaten Streak to 11 Matches
The Jaguar soccer team extended their unbeaten streak to 11 matches over the weekend with two thrilling and hard fought overtime wins against Sun Belt foes Texas State and Appalachian State.
“I thought we did well tonight,” Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. “We’ve started to erase the silly errors at the back. We needed a cleansheet and I’m happy we got one tonight. I’m also proud of how over the last two games we’ve stepped up our play in overtime. That brave attitude finally got rewarded tonight.”
On Friday evening, freshman Charde Hannah scored in the first overtime to lead the Jaguars over Texas State 1-0 in San Marcos. The Jags outshot the Bobcats 24-10 in the match but were even at 4-4 in shots on goal.
Texas State entered the match with the best defensive record in the conference with only 10 goals allowed on the season and a 0.91 goals against average.
Freshman Rio Hardy assisted Hannah, who netted her shot from the top of the box just inside the right post, in the 98th minute of the match.
“It was a great goal,” Winkworth said. “She played it along the 18 (yard box) and put another screamer into the net. She’s a handful and people could double or triple team her, but the good thing is, when teams do that, it opens up space for other players. We’re not a one-player team; we have a lot of talent on this roster. She’s obviously one of the very talented players on the team and is on form. She gets a lot of chances because she works hard for them and she’s playing with talented players.”
Sophomore Sarah Hay had four stops in the net for her sixth cleansheet of the year. Three of her saves came in the first half while the defense kept the bobcast from shooting on goal in the second half.
After a day off on Saturday, they traveled to Appalachian State for another thrilling overtime win, the third in a row for the Jaguars.
After a scoreless first half, Nini Rabsatt-Smith put the Jags on the board in the 58th minute off an assist from freshman Danielle Henley. Henley’s through-ball hit Rabsatt-Smith, who then dribbled around the goalkeeper for her third goal of the season.
Appalachian State tied the match 13 minutes later when Logan White connected with Jane Cline in the box.
Rabsatt-Smith would get her second goal of the match, and the game winner, less than five mintues into the extra period at the 94:32 mark with an assist by Rio Hardy.
“It wasn’t pretty,” coach Winkworth stated about the match. “Appalachian State are a team that is all about intensity, workrate and passion, so I told my team that they’ll have to go in and match that today and we did. We were able to show the same signs that they were and were fortunate enough to get a couple of goals that way. Nini was on the end of a couple and it was a nice way to end the game and the weekend.”
“It shows the character we’ve got because it’s difficult, particularly when you’ve been leading in games and you’re pulled back and go into extra time; it’s a massive mental challenge,” Winkworth said. “For us to be able to pull ourselves back up and finish the game is great.”
“What I really want to emphasize, is we have quality players for different types of games,” Winkworth continued. “In certain games we have to play in a technical way and we have the players to break teams down. Today, other players had to come in and battle a little bit more.”
Hay had five stops and allowed only one goal in the match.
With the win, the Jags tied the school record for consecutive games without a loss as they are 10-0-1 in the last 11 matches. Their record currently stands at 12-2-1 overall and 4-0-1 in confernece play. The Mountaineers fall to 6-8 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
The Jags have four more matches left this season with the next two being played at home. They will host Georgia Southern on Friday at 7pm at The Cage when Georgia State on Sunday at 1pm.
With Georgia Southern’s loss to Georgia State, the Jags have moved into the top spot in the conference with a 4-0-1 conference record. But Georgia Southern and Texas State are tied for second place with 4-1 records.