THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richard Moodie (Carson-Newman, 2006)
Record at USA: 48-22-6 (4th Year)
Overall Record: 96-61-13 (9th Year)

Southern Miss
Mohammad El-Zare (Lincoln Memorial, 1992)
Record at USM: 51-63-17 (7th Year)
Overall Record: Same

SERIES INFORMATION
USM: South Alabama leads 10-5

Current winning streak: 1 L
USA's last win in series: 4-0 (9/20/15) in Hattiesburg, MIss.
USM's last win in series: 1-0 (9/5/19) in Mobile.
Last meeting: Southern Miss 1, South Alabama 0 (9/5/19)
USA's record at Mobile: 6-2
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 5 / 2
Notes: Following winning the Sun Belt Tournament for the sixth time in seven years, The South Alabama Jaguars will face a regional rival Southern Miss to begin the spring '21 campaign.

While South played one non-conference game and its full conference slate without cancelation or postponement, the Golden Eagles had their fall schedule postponed from Fall to Spring, due to all Conference USA Olympic sports being postponed due to the COVID19 pandemic.

The Golden Eagles have scheduled contests earlier than South, but the only match played was a 2-0 win at Nicholls on Feb. 3. Three matches were canceled prior to the contest at The Cage.

NOTES
- 130 Fans will be allowed to attend the match The Cage, but COVID guidelines are in accordance with Alabama state mandate and South Alabama policy requiring all in attendance not participating in the match to wear masks and adhere to social distancing policies.
- Concessions will be closed, but fans will be allowed to bring bottled water into the venue.
- The offensive prowess has been on display for the Jaguars this Fall as USA led the Sun Belt in goals (31), goals-per-game (2.21), points (90) and assists (28).
- Defensively, South is third in the Sun Belt with five clean sheets.
- Five Jaguars rank in the top 10 for points in the conference. In descending order junior Brenna McPartlan was first with 21, followed by Morgan Cross, Gracie Wilson, Ana Helmert and Kailey Littleford.
- McPartlan, Cross, Wilson and Helmert are also represented on the points-per-game but were joined by graduate-student Athanasia Moraitou.
- Moraitou leads in assists-per-game with a 0.57 average. McPartlan is directly following with 0.45, and Cross is tied for third with 0.40.
- Six Jags are listed on the SBC assists category with senior Deanna Green, junior Tilly Wilkes and freshman Izzy Ford join McPartlan (tied first), Moraitou and Cross (tied third).
- Freshman Morgan White made her first pair of starts in the final two regular season playing a total of 118 minutes over the weekend.
- Four Jaguars have eclipsed the 1,000-minute mark for the 11-game season. McPartlan leads the club with 1,040 with Wilson (1,024), Wilkes (1,015) and Flury (1,007) close behind. Freshman Anita Gudmundsdottir is the closest to joining the aforementioned four (932).
- With postseason play, Gudmundsdottir, Cross, Helmert, Gayle and Green each logged over 1,000 minutes on the pitch during the Fall.
- The goalkeeper out of Kopavogur, Iceland collected her fifth clean sheet and ended the regular season on a 277-minute shutout streak after her 10th consecutive start.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richard Moodie
- On the preparation and potential differences between this and the traditional spring: "Business as usual. The hardest thing is the compliance rules with the training. Our situation is different with us being in the national tournament we have to keep the end in mind we had to start our [practice] window a little later than we would have liked. Essentially, we have one full week of training then play on Sunday. We've lost some good players to graduation and added two good ones as well, so it will be interesting to see where we're at and will be a good indication of what we need and will confirm that the signees for 2021 are what we need for going into the Fall."

- On how Dani Fuentes and Laurence Saviana fit into the team: "They fit in right away. The style of play we play and what they want to do is fantastic. Two very creative players and they fit in right away because the football speaks for itself. We are lucky to have them. They come in as transfers and show a level of maturity."

- On Southern Miss: "We are looking at it more from the national tournament stand point now, and that is the bigger worry. During the regular season, this is something we would talk about. It is important when you play these games to win them. For us right now, it's about getting better every week. Southern Miss is a great team and they beat us two years ago, so there's that. But there's also what did we look, what was our performance, are we getting better and where will we be at in April? That's more of what we want to get out of Sunday."

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).

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