MOBILE, Ala. – Sophomore Kory Dixon scored with 4:44 left in the contest to give the University of South Alabama soccer team a 1-0 victory over Little Rock and the Sun Belt Conference title Friday afternoon at The Cage.

The Jaguars, who were already the only Sun Belt program to win three straight championships, has won four in a row dating back to 2014.

USA ends the regular season at 11-5-1 and 9-1 in the league. LR drops to 9-8-2 and 4-4-2.

GAME FACTS
- Senior Rio Hardy assisted on the game-winning goal, feeding Dixon with a throughball down the center of the park at the 85:16 mark
- Little Rock outshot South Alabama 9-3 in the first half, but the Jaguars held a 12-6 edge after halftime
- The Trojans put nine of their 15 attempts on goal, and the Jags had six shots hit the target
- Sophomore goalkeeper Justice Stanford made several big saves in the first half to keep the game scoreless – she made a leaping stop at 15:00, then had to make a stop on a close-range shot at 17:48
- Senior Tiina Trutsi cleared a Little Rock header off the line at 31:06, before Stanford made another diving stop seconds later on another header
- South Alabama recorded eight of the first nine shots of the second half, including an attempt from Trutsi that hit the post, and a strike from Dixon that grazed the top of the crossbar
- A long, bouncing free kick from Erna Gudjonsdottir at 69:23 was kept out by a diving Stanford, and Arola Aparicio Gili's rebound attempt hit the outside of the post
- Dixon almost broke the tie in the 77th minute with a close-range shot, but it went over the bar

NOTES
- Both of Dixon's goals this year have been game winners; her previous came in double overtime vs. Appalachian State
- USA has won eight in a row in the series, and now has 18 wins over LR, the most against any opposing school
- The clean sheet was South Alabama's fifth of the season, and Stanford's 15th of her career
- The Jaguars have 38 shutouts in the last four seasons, the most by any Sun Belt school
- The Jags are 38-6-2 in conference games in the last five seasons
- Friday was just the second time in the last 15 games that USA failed to outshoot its opponent
- South Alabama is 7-1 in its last eight games decided by one goal
- Hardy is now in 12th place by herself at South Alabama in career assists (15)
- Hardy has recorded a point in her last four outings, and in seven of her last eight
- Little Rock was averaging 2.75 goals in its previous four games

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richard Moodie
On winning a conference title in his first season: "It feels fantastic. It's a proud achievement and I'm really thankful for the administration for putting their faith in me to take the program on, which was already a successful program. A lot of people out there might have thought that it wouldn't have been possible to go on and win this, but this team here has been fantastic. Tonight wasn't our best performance but we found a way to win. I'm ecstatic for the girls – they deserve it. What an achievement to come here for your college career and win the conference each year."

On Dixon's goal: "It was fantastic. Kory is a posterchild for kids around the country that play college soccer. That young lady has been in and out of the squad, but she's been at practice every day this week working extra. She finds herself in a situation where she can become the hero. She's been working at practice just going to goal, so today was a product of that. That's a message, not just to our girls, but around the country. You want to get on the team, you want to play more, impress the coaches and prove people wrong, just come in and do extra on the training ground. I'm proud of her."

On the game changing in the second half: "In the first half, they were all over us. Justice had the best game she's played this year. You get glimpses of the goalkeeper she can be for this program moving forward. In the second half, the stats were obviously in our favor. I thought Little Rock looked good and were effective. They were playing for something tonight. At halftime, we said to the girls that if a neutral party was watching the game, telling us who was playing for their fourth conference championship and who was playing for third, they would've had it wrong. I think that message hit home and in the second half we got a response out of them."

On Stanford's performance: "She was phenomenal. It seemed like more than three (great saves); she just made some great saves, but that's why she's here. You need to have a great goalkeeper that can win you games. Early on (this year) she made a few hiccups where we had to help her and dig her out of a hole, and tonight, she dug us out of a massive hole. It was a great performance and I'm really proud of her as well. It's another example of coming in and working extra at the training ground, and going above and beyond."

UP NEXT
The Jaguars, the top seed at the Sun Belt Tournament, will take on No. 8 seed Appalachian State on Wednesday at 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).

Join the Upper 90 Club, the soccer specific support club of the Jaguar Athletic Fund.  All gifts to the Upper 90 Club go directly to support the South Alabama soccer program.  For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/upper90

—USA—