JONESBORO, Ark. – Two goals 96 seconds apart in the first half rallied the University of South Alabama soccer team from an early 1-0 deficit and the Jaguars went on to a 4-1 win over Arkansas State to clinch the Sun Belt Conference regular season championship.

The Jags remain unbeaten in their last 14 games and improve to 15-2-1 overall and 7-0-1 in the league. The Red Wolves fall to 4-13, 1-7.

"It was always going to be a difficult game because the field was not conducive to the style we like to play," Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. "Starting off the game, we struggled with this and Arkansas State did a good job of handling the conditions better than we did because we started slowly. All credit to the team for showing the character they did to respond in the way that they did for going a goal down and being clinical. We didn't create many good opportunities in the first half, but the chances we did have, we put them in the back of the net."

The Jags claim their first outright SBC title since the league started sponsoring the sport in 2000; USA shared the title that season with Florida International.

"It feels great," Winkworth said. "It was the part that we missed out on last season, which was very disappointing. It was something that I was really focused on, making sure that we competed for it this year. To win it with a game to spare it magnificent. I can't give enough credit to the players that I'm fortunate enough to work with every day."

After falling behind by a goal after six minutes, a quick doublestrike from freshmen Danielle Henley (Hattiesburg, Miss.) and Steffi Hardy (Workington, England) put the Jags on top. Henley's shot at 19:32 went in off the goalkeeper, then Hardy put home a free kick from 20 yards out at the 21:08 mark.

"If you don't shoot, you don't score and I think on the first goal we were fortunate to get, but Danielle took the shot and it went in," Winkworth said. "On another day, the keeper might have saved it. Steffi took the free kick, put it in the corner and it gave us some momentum. When you score a goal, the next few minutes are always important and we were lucky to keep the momentum going from the first goal and managed to get a second."

Of the five shots USA put on net, four went in. South Alabama outshot Arkansas State 15-13 overall.

"Both teams played a pretty direct style and it meant we had to win a lot of headers and second balls, then try to get in behind them," Winkworth said. "I felt that defensively we worked extremely hard. Players like Monique (Autmon), who play positions that aren't usually given a lot of credit, was there to pick up the scraps all day long and start the attack. After the first 20 minutes I thought we did a good job defensively in handling what was thrown at us."

USA scored a pair goals late to put the game away. Freshman Chardé Hannah (Tupelo, Miss.) converted a pass from Chelsea Followwell (Sachse, Texas) in the 81st minute, and freshman Rio Hardy (Workington, England) finished the scoring at 89:13 on a breakaway.

Sophomore Sarah Hay (Waxahachie, Texas) made eight stops in goal for the Jags.

South Alabama closes out the regular season 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon at Arkansas-Little Rock.

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

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