MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama freshman Chardé Hannah (Tupelo, Miss.) recorded a pair of goals, including the match-winner in the 51st minute to give the Jaguars a 2-1 win over Arkansas-Little Rock and a spot in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament semifinals Friday night at The Cage.

The top-seeded Jags (17-2-1) move on to face No. 4 seed Georgia Southern Friday night at 7 p.m.

"I thought it was a close and well-fought game," USA head coach Graham Winkworth said. "Arkansas-Little Rock are an extremely organized team and a very well-coached team; I have a lot of respect for my friend (Adrian Blewitt) over there. His team came out, were excellent and gave us a lot of scares.

"We're fortunate to go through and I was pleased with our performance but a lot of credit needs to go to Little Rock as well."

Hannah, the 2014 Sun Belt Offensive Player and Freshman of the Year, posted her fifth multi-goal game of the season, and her sixth match-winning goal. Her second of the night came almost two minutes after UALR equalized, and it moved her into second place in school history with 45 points on the season.

"She's a great player and a great girl," Winkworth said. "She's humble. When you have a player with that sort of talent who appreciates her teammates and doesn't get the big head, it's a joy to coach. She'll be the first to tell you that she's got a lot of quality teammates around her and she's like the icing on the cake."

USA outshot UALR 16-11 on the night and held a 7-3 margin on shots on net. Hannah led the way again with five attempts and four on goal.

Hannah got the scoring started in the ninth minute when she followed up on her miss from the right side and poked it in the net.

The Jaguars took their 1-0 lead into halftime, but it didn't take long for the Trojans to even the score at 1-1. After a pair of UALR shots were blocked before reaching the goalkeeper, Alyson Rohane lifted a pass over the defense that found Linnea Kogsta, who put it past sophomore Sarah Hay (Waxahachie, Texas) at 48:35.

Hannah wasted little time in putting South Alabama back in the lead. Freshman Rio Hardy (Workington, England) hit a through-ball that Hannah wrestled away from the defender and dented the right side of the net at the 50:20 mark.

"We're not a bunch of individuals, we're a team," Winkworth said. "We needed to remind the girls pregame; I didn't think we defended that well as a team in Arkansas. We worked a little bit harder today, and to be honest, both of our goals came from working hard defensively, even in the attacking part of the field. When you work hard defensively, like (Chardé) did on that second goal, you get your rewards. Hopefully that will be a motivator for her for the next game."

Hay made two saves, one in each half, for the Jags. She improved her record to 14-1-1. Sara Cavanagh had five stops for UALR.

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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