USA Softball Ranked 20th In Preseason Poll
The 2013 South Alabama Softball Team earned their second consecutive SBC Tournament title after defeated WKU 2-0 on Saturday, May 11, 2013 | sunbeltsports.org
The University of South Alabama Softball team set a new first in program history on Tuesday. After repeating and Conference champs last season and hosting their very first NCAA Tournament regional, the Jaguars are ranked in the USA Today/NFCA Division I preseason Top 25 poll.
USA earned a spot at #20 in the preseason poll and are one of two Sun Belt schools in the top 25 as Louisiana-Lafayette was voted #13. Western Kentucky received voted but were not ranked in the top 25.
Last season the Jaguars posted a 48-9 record overall and reached the championship game of the NCAA Tournament regional and were ranked #17.
Three other teams from the State of Alabama were ranked or received votes in the poll. Alabama was ranked #6, USA #20, UAB #21 and Auburn received votes but were not in the top 25.
USA will play UAB on February 6 at Jaguar Field then again on February 19 in Birmingham. The Jags will also play Alabama on April 2 in Tuscaloosa.
USA will face other preseason top 25 teams as well. They will face #23 Georgia three times (twice in Georgia tournament February 15, 16 and once in Orlando tournament on February 23), #18 ranked Baylor in the Gulfport, MS. tournament, #17 LSU on April 23 in Baton Rouge and #13 ULL April 12-13 in Lafayette.
They will also face Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky, both schools receiving votes in the poll, but not enough to rank them in the top 25.
“It is always an honor to be recognized as one of the top programs in the NCAA,” said Jaguar head coach Becky Clark. “As coaches and players, we know that all of this will ultimately be played out on the field. I definitely think the preseason list is an indicator of the type of softball that is being played in the Sun Belt; to have two teams in the Top 20 and another team receiving votes is a testament to the hard work put in by the coaches and student-athletes in our conference.”
Jaguar Field is undergoing renovations that should be ready by the time the season starts. The Softball team is also getting a new indoor batting and pitching complex, a new and larger press box, sunken dugouts and will have seating that will wrap around from dugout to dugout.
The Jags are returning seven starters from last season. Their season begins on February 6th against UAB at Jaguar Field. First pitch is set for 6pm.
Go Jags!
USA’s Allison, Oram, Hernandez Are Part Of 10 SBC Players Selected For All-South Region Team
The University of South Alabama Women’s Soccer team pose after wining their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship by defeating Western Kentucky 1-0 on Sunday in San Marcos, Texas. | sunbeltsports.org
Ten Sun Belt Conference women’s soccer players were selected for the NSCAA/Continental Tire NCAA All-South Region team as announced by the NSCAA office.
Highlighting the list was Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player and Freshman of the Year Lauren Allison. She led the conference in points, points per game, goals, goals per game, assists, assists per game and game-winning goals. She and teammate Jessica Oram were both selected to the All-South Region First Team.
Jaguars Clarrisa Hernandez was selected to the second team.
Along with the three Jaguars, UL-Lafayette’s Grace Howell-Harries, who was selected SBC Defensive Player of the Year, was selected to the second team and Annika Schmidt was selected to the third team.
Troy freshman Necee Jennings was selected to the Third Team. WKU’s Nora Abolins, Chrissy Tchoula and Iris Dunn were all selected to the Second Team with Chandler Clark being selected to the Third Team.
Allison, Dunn, Jennings and Schmidt are all freshman and are just four of several players returning who will be impact players for the 2014 season. Additionally, each of the four returning players are ranked in the top ten in goals scored this season.
Howell-Harries is a junior and will also return for the 2014 season.
Sun Belt soccer looks to be a very exciting season.
USA Soccer Begins NCAA Tournament Play Tomorrow Against #1 Seed Florida State
Tomorrow, the University of South Alabama women’s soccer team will make their debut in the NCAA Tournament. This will be their first-ever appearance and they will do it against the #1 overall seeded Florida State Seminoles at Seminole Soccer Complex in Tallahassee. The match is set to begin at 6pm CST.
USA (14-5-3) defeated Western Kentucky to win the 2013 Sun Belt Conference Tournament and earned an automatic bid to the tournament. They will be facing a Seminole team who finished the season with an 18-1-3 record, won the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and will be hosting their fifth-consecutive NCAA Tournament first-round match on Friday.
This will be the sixth time these two teams have met each other with FSU having won the previous five meetings by a combined score of 20-2. The last time they met was in 2009 when the ‘noles won 8-0.
The Jags enter the match tomorrow with a five-match winning streak and riding an emotional high from the SBC Tournament. They have outscored those five opponents 11-4 during that run.
FSU defeated #25 Duke, #4 North Carolina and #6 Virginia Tech to win the ACC Tournament title and play in their 14th consecutive NCAA Tournament. Meanwhile, USA defeated Georgia State, Arkansas State and regular-season champ Western Kentucky to win the first SBC Tournament in program history.
The winner between the Jags and the Seminoles will face the winnver between Ole Miss and Jackson State in the second round.
USA Soccer Travels To Tallahassee To Face #1 Seed FSU
The University of South Alabama Women’s Soccer team pose after wining their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Championship by defeating Western Kentucky 1-0 on Sunday in San Marcos, Texas. | sunbeltsports.org
The South Alabama women’s soccer team found out that they will travel to face #1 seed Florida State in Tallahassee on Friday in the opening round of the 2013 NCAA Championship.
The Jags (14-5-3) won their first-ever Sun Belt Conference Tournament title and earned an automatic bid to the field of 64. Florida State is the #1 seed overall, the Atlantic Coast Conference champion with an overall record of 18-1-3. Their only loss of the season came to then #1 ranked Virginia.
Actually, all of the #1 seeds in this year’s tournament hail from the ACC. FSU, Virginia, Virginia Tech and North Carolina are all top seeds. Meanwhile, the ACC has eight teams competing in the tournament, which leads all conferences.
“We’re buzzing with excitement,” said USA first-year head coach Graham Winkworth. “Ten months ago, when I came here, I told the girls we would be playing for a championship, and here we are, playing the top team in the country in the NCAA Tournament.”
“I want the girls to enjoy this occasion,” Winkworth continued. “They enjoyed last night and watching the selection show today, but tomorrow we’re back to business, and it will be like any other week. Florida State are the best team, but we’ve prepared for good teams all year long.”
“We’re going to treat them with respect, but we’re not going to go to any game scared,” Winkworth concluded. “It’s 11 players versus 11 players, and we’re going to give them a game. We’re looking forward to the opportunity.”
Thirty-one conference were granted automatic berths in the 2013 Championship tournament with the remaining 33 teams selected at-large. The top 16 teams are seeded and conference teams cannot play each other in the first or second rounds. When pairing teams, the committee follows geographic proximity and sites are selected for the first round to create the least number of flights.
First round matches are played at campus sites on November 15 and 16. Second and third round matches will be played on Friday, November 22 and Sunday, November 24 at the same campus sites.
Quarterfinal matches will be played on November 29 and 30 also on campus sites.
The 32nd Annual NCAA Women’s COllege Cup will be held on December 6 and 8 in Cary, North Carolina at the WakeMed Soccer Park with Campbell University serving as the host. The national semifinals will be played on December 6 and both will air on ESPNU, the first at 5:00pm Eastern Time and the second airing at 7:30pm Eastern time.
The national championship match will air on ESPNU live on Sunday, December 8 at 3:00pm Eastern time.
The Jags and the Seminoles will play this Friday in Tallahassee with the match starting at 6:00pm Central time.
Jags Rank 78th In First BCS Rankings
The first Bowl Championship Series (BCS) rankings were released on Sunday and the Jags debut at #78.
Here are the rankings for all of the Sun Belt Conference teams and Jaguar opponents:
- 39 Tennessee
- 39 Louisiana-Lafayette
- 51 Tulane
- 72 Western Kentucky
- 73 Louisiana-Monroe
- 78 South Alabama
- 80 Arkansas State
- 84 Troy
- 91 Texas State
- 103 Kent State
- 999 Georgia State (not eligible along with Penn State and Texas-San Antonio)
Jags Prepare To Open Regional Play In Starkville At 2pm Friday
The University of South Alabama baseball team prepares to open play in the 2013 NCAA Starkville Regional today at 2pm. The Jags, a #2 seed, will open against #3 seed Mercer at Dudy Noble Field on the campus of Mississippi State University in Starkville, Mississippi.
Senior Anthony Izzio (3-0) will get the start for the Jags against Mercer. He has three consecutive wins in his last three outings, one of them a start. He has only allowed two runs in the last 19 2/3 innings with 12 strikeouts and two walks.
Mercer (43-16) will start Brandon Barker (7-1) with a 2.35 ERA with 78 strikeouts and 26 walks in 84 1/3 innings pitched. He is also holding opponents to a .251 batting average against him.
All-time the Jags are 34-48 in NCAA Regionals with its 25th appearance this season, it’s first since 2006. The Jags also hold a 6-2 advantage over Mercer all-time with their last game a Jaguar win at Eddie Stanky Field to open the 2009 season. This will be their first time to face each other in postseason play.
South Alabama enters the Regionals ranked 27th in this week’s Collegiate Baseball poll. As they prepare to open play, they come into the game with a .301 batting average and a 4.21 ERA. While Jeff DeBlieux leads the nation with 10 triples while hitting .407 with four doubles, five triples, two home runs, 11 RBI during his current 14 game hitting streak.
Mercer enters the game with a team batting average of .301 and a 4.06 ERA. Chesny Young leads the team with a .394 batting average, 100 hits, three triples and an on-base percentage of .453. They are the regular season champion of the Atlantic Sun Conference with a 20-7 conference record.
The Starkville Regional is probably one of, if not the toughest regional of the 16 regional sites in the nation.
Along with being broadcast on 105.5 FM WNSP in the Mobile area and online on thier website http://wnsp.com/ the game can be viewed through ESPN3.com.
USA Travels To Starkville For First NCAA Regional Tournament Since 2006
There wasn’t any doubt that the South Alabama baseball team was going to make the field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament, their first since 2006. But there was hope that the Jags would be hosting a Regional in Mobile. Unfortunately those hopes did not come to fruition on Sunday when the regional locations were announced.
However the Jags will be playing just up the road in Starkville, MS regional as a #2 seed. They will be joined by the host and #1 seed Mississippi State, #3 seed Mercer and #4 seed Central Arkansas.
The Jags ended the regular season as co-champions of the Sun Belt with in-state rival Troy University with a 42-18 record. They were eliminated from the Sun Belt Tournament short of their goal of reaching the championship game, but they will now get ready to face #3 Mercer of the Atlantic Sun Conference at 2pm on Friday. Top seeded MSU will face Central Arkansas at 7pm on Friday. They defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season.
Single Game tickets are $15 for reserved and $10 for general admission and will be available on Friday, May 31 at noon. All-Tournament passes are $90 for reserved and $50 for general admission and will go on sale Wednesday, May 29 at 8am.
The Jags fell to Mississippi State earlier this season in a close game.