MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama soccer team will take its 2-0 record back on the road this weekend for the Trojan Classic, hosted by Troy.

The Jaguars will face Louisiana Tech Friday at 4 p.m. and Tennessee-Martin Sunday at noon.

Louisiana Tech also enters the weekend with a 2-0 record, while UT-Martin is 1-1.

"These are two very good teams," USA head coach Graham Winkworth said. "They both finished in the top 140 in the RPI last year, so they're strong programs, and La Tech reached the semifinals of their conference tournament. UT Martin, since Coach (Phil) McNamara has been there, has won their conference three times. So it's two more tough games on the road again; it's at a neutral site so that makes it a little easier, but it will still be a challenge."

USA increased its unbeaten streak to 20 last weekend—defeating Mississippi State 1-0 and Samford 3-2—on goals in the final 12 minutes from sophomores Chardé Hannah (Tupelo, Miss.) and Ashlynn Jones (Pickerington, Ohio), and is 2-0 for the first time since 2007.

Jones provided the only goal of the match vs. MSU with under nine-minutes left, then assisted on the second of Hannah's two goals at Samford with 11:02 to play.

Hannah was named Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week after her two-goal performance.

"I was really pleased with how the girls handled the style of soccer we faced," Winkworth said. "We were very good at defending the direct soccer that Mississippi State offered us, and Samford was direct and had a lot of athletes. We were playing against two teams that were far more athletic than us last weekend, so I was proud of the way the girls battled, fought and showed character, particularly against Samford, coming from behind twice to win the game. That just shows the type of chemistry and character that we've got within this squad.

"Like I've said before, I don't think we've played our best soccer yet and we've managed to pick up two good results. I think that's the sign of a good team when you can play below your potential and still pick up positive results."

La Tech returns 10 starters from last year's 13-6-3 squad, and opened the 2015 campaign with a 2-1 win at Louisiana-Monroe and a 2-0 home victory vs. Lamar. Freshman Mylene Roy-Ouellet has three of the team's four goals and was named Conference USA's Offensive Player of the Week.

"They are very well coached, organized and disciplined, and focus a lot defensively and on the counter attack," Winkworth said. "They have an English coach that is very experienced and has been very successful in his career. They're going to be very tough to break down, so we're going to hopefully try and throw some things at them that can move their defenders around a bit and create some goal-scoring opportunities for our attacking players."

Unlike Louisiana Tech, Tennessee-Martin is practically starting over with just two starters and six players coming back from a team that went 12-6-2 and finished fourth in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Skyhawks rebounded from an opening-night loss to Western Kentucky to defeat Evansville 3-2 on Sunday.

"Tennessee-Martin is also very well coached," Winkworth stated. "Coach McNamara has done a fantastic job there; he did a great job at Carson-Newman and he's gone to UT Martin and continued that. They're always challenging for the Ohio Valley championship every year. This year they don't have many returning players, but they have a lot of quality freshmen, many of which are internationals. I expect an intelligent team on Sunday. I don't know how athletic they are compared to the other teams we've played, but they'll be a technical side and they'll have some players with pace because I know Phil likes to have pace in certain areas of the field."

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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