Box Score

2012 Sun Belt Conference Soccer Final Standings

MOBILE, Ala. – Down 1-0 at halftime, the University of South Alabama women’s soccer team came out of the break fast and furious, equalizing within 10 minutes and taking the match versus Troy to overtime, but Trojan substitute Louise Cheng danced through the area in the 93^rd minute before beating USA keeper Lauren Arnold and handing the Jags a 2-1 defeat on Friday at The Cage.
 
With the loss, USA (8-9-3, 3-5-2 SBC) falls to seventh in Sun Belt Conference standings, a spot ahead of Florida Atlantic. Troy (9-9-2, 4-5-1 SBC) moved to sixth with Friday’s victory. Middle Tennessee drew with Western Kentucky on Friday to claim a share of the regular season title and unofficially the No. 2 seed in the SBC Tournament. North Texas would claim the top seed due to a 3-2 win over MT, while FIU fell to third due to a loss against the Raiders on Sept. 28. Arkansas State came back from a goal to defeat UALR 3-1 on Friday to finish fifth.

The official tournament bracket will be announced by the league office this weekend.
 
USA crackled to open Friday’s match, outshooting Troy 5-2 in the first 20 minutes, but Chanel Elgin won a battle for possession atop the USA penalty box and lobbed the ball just over the head of USA's starting keeper Melissa Drish to give the Trojans a 1-0 advantage.
 
Troy then recorded three unanswered attempts on goal before the half ended.
 
USA exited the locker room for the second stanza with renewed energy, as the largest Jaguar crowd of the season called for an equalizer, which junior midfielder Clarissa Hernandez provided only 10 minutes after the restart.
 
Jordan Duncan was sent into the right corner at the 55-minute mark before playing Tina Schaar, who pushed along a square ball to Hernandez at the top of the Trojan area. Hernandez shot once and, after gathering a rebound off a Trojan defender, slotted the ball into the far corner to even the scoreline and ignite the home crowd.
 
The excitement carried throughout the half as the Jaguars sent wave after wave of attack at the Trojan defense, recording six shots to the visitors’ two, but USA could not convert its efforts into goals, taking the Jaguars into their record-tying sixth overtime match of the season.
 
“I thought we started off fast, but when we gave up the goal against the run of play, we didn’t play well to finish the half,” said USA head coach Mike Varga. “We came out in the second half, and I thought we had the better play. We threatened a few times getting into overtime, then we made a few mistakes and they found the back of the net.
 
“We outplayed them most of the match, but they found a way to win,” he added.
 
Hernandez extended her club-leading point total to 16 with what was her sixth goal of the season. Schaar’s assist was her third of the year. USA outshot Troy 14-12 through the match and held a 5-3 advantage in corner kicks.

"We're disappointed to end the season like this, but we're hosting the [SBC] tournament, everyone else has to travel, and we've played relatively well here at home," said Varga. "We're not afraid of any matchups, so we'll give it our best shot on Wednesday. I think we're good enough to advance."




Match: USA vs. Troy
Date: October 26, 2012
Competition: Regular season, Sun Belt Conference   
Venue: The Cage (Mobile, Ala.)
Kickoff: 7 p.m. CT
Attendance: 432
Weather: 76 degrees, humid
Scoring Summary:  1   2    OT   F
USA                         0   1      0      1
Troy                        1   0      1      2

Troy – Chanel Elgin – 23^rd minute
USA – Clarissa Hernandez (Schaar, Tina) – 55^th minute
Troy – Louise Cheng – 93^rd minute

Starting Lineups:
USA : 13-Melissa Drish (GK); 5-Nini Rabsatt-Smith; 6-Shawn Meach; 8-Tina Schaar; 10-Clarissa Hernandez; 12-Madison Rodwell; 15-Jordan Duncan; 16-Emi Passini; 20-Tatum Perry; 22-Shelby Owen; 24-Jess Oram
Head Coach: Mike Varga

Troy : 1-Katie Comeno-Lewis (GK); 2-Jasmine Fahrnbauer; 5-Georgia Wallis; 9-Chelsey Williams; 10-Jane Latif; 12-Samantha Morgan; 16-Chanel Elgin; 20-Erin Cersley; 21-Payton Donley; 23-Cecilia Thorngren; 24-Paige McMillan
Head coach: Chris Bentley

Stats Summary: USA / TROY
Shots: 14 / 12
Shots on Goal: 9 / 7
Saves: 5 / 8
Corner Kicks: 5 / 3
Fouls: 5 / 9
Offsides: 2 / 0

Misconduct Summary:
Troy – Head Coach (Yellow Card) – 73^rd minute
USA – Assistant Coach (Yellow Card) – 80^th minute
 
Officials:
Referee: Kirt Hinkle
Assistant Referee 1: Stephen Binning
Assistant Referee 2: Jennifer Politz
Alternate Official: Ronald “Buddy” Jaet

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com.  Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).