Box Score MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama freshman Steffi Hardy (Workington, England) scored her first career goal in the second half and sophomore Sarah Hay (Waxahachie, Texas) made a pair of late saves to preserve the 1-0 victory over North Florida Friday night at The Cage.

The Jaguars win their fifth straight to improve to 7-2 on the year. The Ospreys drop to 1-7.

"I was really pleased with the girls; I thought that was one of our better performances this season," said USA head coach Graham Winkworth. "North Florida is a lot better than their results suggest. They're very difficult to break down. They're struggling to score some goals but I knew they would be difficult to score against and their keeper has played an absolute stormer for them. We had to be patient and I'm proud of the girls, not only defensively, but in their patience in attack, and eventually we managed to score from a set piece. We'll take them however they come."

South Alabama had 20 shots and put 11 on frame, forcing North Florida goalkeeper Megan Dorsey to make 10 saves. The Jags won the shots battle 20-7 overall.

"They did a great job; I was proud of them," Winkworth said. "They executed exactly what we wanted, and I'm really pleased with the girls tonight."

Hardy's strike came in the 65th minute after finding a loose corner kick from freshman Tiina Trutsi (Tallinn, Estonia) just inside the 18-yard box.

"It was a second ball off of a corner kick, and we've been talking about second balls but we weren't talking about them off set pieces. Steffi stayed focused as the ball landed on the ground and drilled it home."

North Florida threatened in the final 10 minutes, putting two open shots on frame, but Hay stopped both efforts to give the Jags their sixth cleansheet of the year, second most in the Sun Belt Conference.

Hay finished the night with five saves.

"We switched off a couple of times and we have to make sure that we're focused for 90 minutes in a game," Winkworth said. "We made a couple of errors, but when we make mistakes on one part of the field, we're fortunate that we have a good goalkeeper back there to keep us in the game. I was proud of her tonight."

Play at the Jaguar Classic continues Sunday when the Jaguars face Francis Marion at 11:30 a.m.

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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