MOBILE, Ala. – The University of South Alabama soccer team will go to Troy for a pair of matches this weekend at the Trojan Classic.

The Jaguars will face Jacksonville State on Friday at 4 p.m., and Belmont on Sunday at noon. Live stats will be available for both matches on USAJaguars.com.

"I was extremely happy with the performances and the workrate of the girls from last weekend," USA head coach Graham Winkworth said. "We've shown that we're an extremely fit team and that will really help us later in the season.

"This weekend will be exciting. Whenever you lose a game, it's always nice to get an opportunity to play another one quickly. We'll be playing two of the stronger teams out of the Ohio Valley Conference and we're looking forward to going on the road as a team as well. It's a different experience than playing at home. Not only because you're playing on a different field, but all of the logistics that go into a road weekend. It'll be enjoyable to do that for the first time this year."

South Alabama enters the weekend with a 0-1-1 record after tying Samford 0-0 in the opener and falling 1-0 to No. 12 Auburn in double overtime on Sunday.

"I learned that we have the potential to be mentally stronger than we've been in the past," Winkworth noted. "I think the girls raised their level in both matches, and on another weekend with the opportunities we had, we could be sitting at 2-0 right now, if it wasn't for the woodwork.

"I'm not despondent about the weekend because of our performances and I feel like if the girls pull their socks up and are mentally strong, we can rebound quickly, and hopefully, by the end of the weekend, have a positive overall record."

Despite the absence of wins, the Jags just allowed one goal in over 216 minutes, and senior Sarah Hay (Waxahatchie, Texas) tied the school's career shutout record with 20, pulling her even with Melissa Drish (2010-13) and Kelsie Langford (2005-08).

USA has failed to find the net despite putting up 34 shots, with 13 on goal, but three of those shots hit the post or crossbar, and the Samford goalkeeper made eight saves.

"Our forwards need to be full of confidence," Winkworth said. "Even though we haven't put the ball in the back of the net, on Friday night we came up against one of the best goalkeeping performances I've seen. If it wasn't for her, we'd have scored three or four goals against any other goalkeeper. On Sunday, we hit the woodwork and were tired. We will focus on some finishing and breaking down team's defenses this week, and hopefully we can score our first goals of the season."

Jacksonville State dropped a narrow 1-0 decision on a late goal to Middle Tennessee to open the year before bouncing back to defeat Georgia Southern 3-1. Three different Gamecocks accounted for each goal.

"Jacksonville State are a good team," Winkworth said. "Even though it was a 1-0 loss to MTSU on the road, it's not a bad result in the fact that MTSU are a very good team, and Georgia Southern have shown that they can be a pain in our league as well; we scraped a 1-0 win against them last year. We're expecting a real difficult match against them. They're a well-organized team and one of their assistant coaches – Nikki Brown – is a former player of mine at North Alabama. She knows me and some of our players very well, so they'll be ready."

The Bruins came out of the first weekend with a pair of draws, tying Lipscomb 1-1 before going to a 0-0 finish with Illinois-Chicago. Half of Belmont's 28 shot attempts have hit the target.

"I don't know too much about them but we will have the opportunity to see them on Friday," Winkworth stated. "That result against Lipscomb is very good; they beat Vanderbilt last weekend. These might not be names like Florida State and Auburn, but they're two very well-organized and talented teams, and we're expecting a tough weekend on the road for sure."

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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