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MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama sophomore
Chelsea Followwell (Sachse, Texas) volleyed home the game-winning goal in the 82nd minute to give the Jaguars a 2-1 win over Austin Peay at the Jaguar Classic Sunday afternoon at The Cage.
The Jags improve to 5-1 on the year while the Lady Govs drop to 1-4.
"We asked for a reaction from Friday, and if I'm honest, a sloppy win is better than a pretty loss at the end of the season," USA head coach
Graham Winkworth said. "However we need to focus on putting in better performances if we want to compete against our schedule this year. I don't think we played to our potential today. The girls worked hard and showed a lot of character at times of the game and when they made it 1-1 we could have gone on and lost the game. So we showed the right character, made a couple of adjustments and scored a nice goal to win the game, but I think our program is better than what we showed today. Hopefully we can actually bounce back and have a strong performance next weekend."
Followwell's goal, her second of the season, came at the 81:26 mark. Senior
Alyssa Mayer (Birmingham, Ala.) dribbled down the right side and sent a cross directly to the foot of Followwell, who hit it first time past the Austin Peay goalkeeper.
"We had just put Alyssa on and told her to get forward," Winkworth said. "She managed to get to the end line, which is one of the things we talked about in the pregame, put in a lovely cross and Chelsea got on the back post. We wanted numbers in the box and Chelsea managed to get on the end of it. It was a volley, but it was almost a tap-in because of the work Alyssa put in down the right side."
The Lady Govs seriously threatened with four minutes left when Jennifer Smith got behind the Jaguar to defense but her pair of shots were kept out of the net.
Followwell's attempt was just the third of the half for the Jaguars, who were outshot 5-3 after halftime after holding a 13-2 margin in the first half. USA didn't register a single shot in the second half until the 72:46 mark, a narrow miss from senior
Alli Cochrane (Chelsea, Ala.).
"We didn't create quality chances," Winkworth said. "Our movement off the ball in the heat wasn't particularly strong, and we have to work on that this week. Hopefully we'll fix that by the time we play in Louisiana."
South Alabama needed Followwell's goal after Austin Peay tied the game at 1-1 just under eight minutes after halftime.
Gina Fabbro caught up to a long
Shelby Olszewski pass down the right wing and lofted a shot from near the byline over the USA goalkeepers' outstretched arm.
South Alabama sophomore
Ashlynn Jones (Pickerington, Ohio) got the Jags on the board in the 22nd minute with her second scoring tally of the season. Jones was hit with a pass from sophomore
Steffi Hardy in space between defenders and drilled it home.
"It's always nice to get an early goal and it took some pressure off," Winkworth stated. "It was a good goal and it's nice to score. I was hoping that we would go on from there but I think the girls relaxed just a little bit after we scored and didn't give our opponent the respect that they deserve. We took our foot off the pedal and we can't do that; we need to make sure that if we score, we go ahead and try and put the game away early, because it would have given us more time to relax."
Jones almost put USA ahead 13 minutes earlier after she broke free and rounded the keeper, but her shot was kept out by an APSU defender, as was freshman
Jemma Purfield's (Cottingham, England) rebound attempt.
Sophomore
Courtney Baum (Cumming, Ga.) made one save in net for the Jags, while her counterpart,
Lindsey Todd, made eight stops.
The Jaguars head back out on the road for a pair of contests next weekend, starting with Southeastern Louisiana Friday at 3 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).
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