Box Score MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama soccer team took advantage of an early Southern Miss red card to score six goals, including a hat-trick from freshman Sophie Haywood (Hull, England), in a 6-0 victory Friday night at The Cage.

The win gives the Jaguars a 3-2 mark on the year while the Golden Eagles fall to 2-3.

USA outshot USM 31-3 on the evening, and put 15 attempts on goal.

"I was really pleased with the girls," Jaguar head coach Graham Winkworth said. "Obviously an early sending off for Southern Mississippi didn't help them, but at the same time, I thought we controlled the game and moved the ball around very well. We attacked down the sides of the field a lot more than we've done in recent games, which is something we struggled with last weekend, so I was proud of the girls and how we moved the ball around.

"More importantly, I was proud of the second-half performance. We've been letting off in recent games and I thought today we finished them off and that was a good, professional performance."

The win is the second-biggest by South Alabama in the series between the two schools, behind only the 7-0 win in the first meeting in 1997.

Haywood's three-goal outing is the second by a USA player in the last three matches after junior Jordan Duncan (Bay St. Louis, Miss.) put three home vs. Tennessee Tech on Aug. 29.

Haywood got her first at the 33:12 mark on a looping shot from the left byline after a corner kick, then added a second seven minutes later with a shot from the top of the box.

Her final tally came in the waning moments, with a solo effort capped off by a low shot past the goalkeeper.

"She was phenomenal," Winkworth said. "She's showing why we brought her over here. That was a great performance and I'm really proud of her. Players don't want to come off when they've got two goals; it's always nice to get the hat-trick. I put her on for the last 10 to try and get it and she put it away."

Junior Nini Rabsatt-Smith (Montgomery, Ala.), and freshmen Tiina Trutsi (Tallinn, Estonia) and Rio Hardy (Workington, England) also found the scoresheet for the Jaguars.

"We're trying to possess the ball a lot more this season than we've done in the past," Winkworth stated. "I think that we did that today. All of the field players played and I can't speak highly enough of the girls. It was a good squad performance again, but now we have to focus on Sunday because we've not put two wins over a weekend together yet and now is our opportunity once again. Hopefully we can do that on Sunday."

The Jaguars go for back-to-back wins Sunday at Southern. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.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).

—USA—