MOBILE, Ala. – The 2019 University of South Alabama soccer season will officially get underway when head coach Richard Moodie holds the team's first practice Tuesday afternoon at The Cage.

Following this morning's fitness test, the team will hold the first tactical session of the new season in advance of USA's exhibition on Sunday against Lipscomb.

"Obviously it's exciting to be back," Moodie said. "Everyone has reported that's meant to be here – it's always your biggest fear as a coach because the recruiting process is so difficult, you hope that they get on a plane or in a car and get to campus. Everyone is healthy and we're ready to go."

Moodie, entering his third season, welcomes back eight starters and 15 letterwinners from last year's team that went 8-9-2 overall and 5-4-1 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars' season ended in the conference semifinals, resulting in their first season without a title since 2012.

"At South Alabama, it's a bad season if you don't win a trophy," Moodie noted. "That's the kind of pressure we put on ourselves. Last season, we played with a lot of freshmen – sometimes with seven or eight in the starting lineup – and I know a lot of teams in the country had to do that, but I don't know anyone in our conference that played as hard of a non-conference schedule as we did. To go against teams that won the SEC and another that won the national tournament, and compete and almost get a result against LSU, we have to be confident.

"We're the underdogs now. The pressure is on Texas State and Little Rock. We just have to focus on ourselves. We played well last year, but the end product wasn't the best and that's where we're going to focus. We'll be a team that comes in, works hard and hopefully plays a lot of exciting soccer."

On the agenda for Moodie early on is finding an answer in front of goal. Last season's scoring total of 24 was the lowest since 2009. Sophomore Brenna McPartlan returns as the team leader in goals (5), assists (4) and points (14), which led to the coaches voting her the Sun Belt Freshman of the Year.

"Our big thing coming out of last year was the final third," Moodie said. "We seemed to do well getting to the final third and couldn't capitalize, so that's an important piece to the puzzle – be more clinical in the final third. Two, our fitness levels have to be better. It's not that we're out of shape, but to go all the way through and get to the final of the conference tournament, we could have all done better to be more fit. Ultimately, in a season where you've added 12 more players, we're trying to jell them together."

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

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