GREENSBORO, N.C. – Junior Olivia "Tilly" Wilkes notched the only goal of the match as the University of South Alabama soccer team advanced past Colorado, 1-0, Tuesday night at MacPherson Stadium in Bryan Park.

South Alabama (14-8-1, 8-2 SBC) snapped a two-game losing streak bouncing back with a win in the NCAA tournament.

Colorado (9-6-2, 5-4-2 Pac 12) had its four-game unbeaten run snapped in the first meeting between the two sides.

GAME FACTS
- The Jags got a couple early chances to push ahead. At the six-minute mark, USA earned a corner kick. Whipped in by Gracie Wilson, Laurence Saviana got to the ball first, but her header was deflected away from goal. Flury ended up with the ball and blasted it a few feet over the cross bar.
- End-to-end action ensued with when Tilly Wilkes whipped in a cross 10 minutes into the contest. Colorado goalkeeper Dani Hansen caught the cross and immediately threw out to a midfielder starting an offensive break. The Buffs drove the ball to the Jaguar defensive third, but the cross sailed out of bounds.
- Fifteen minutes later, the Jags moved the ball around effectively creating gaps while in the final third, but Kailey Littleford's cross had too much pace and sailed over the end line as Wilkes and Morgan Cross awaited on the far side with one defender forced to guard both players.
- The Jag defense, in particular Gabrielle Gayle, kept opportunities at a minimum as Gayle blocked a shot from inside the goal box, and then a cross from Colorado's Tessa Barton, one of the primary attacking threats from the Buffs.
- With three minutes left in the half, Deanna Green smacked in another cross, Hansen punched the ball away, but right to Littleford. In the best scoring opportunity, Littleford placed the shot wide, but defenders were in position to potentially block the shot. The match was scoreless at the half.
- The teams each recorded three shots in the first half with neither side putting an attempt on frame. South had a 2-to-1 advantage on corners with the Jaguars surrendering one more foul than Colorado, 4-3. The Buffs were caught offside once for the only violation.
- The Jags started the second half with an attack but Littleford's shot toward an open back post sailed over the bar just over a minute into the frame.
- In the 58th minute, the Jags broke the deadlock. Cross drew a foul on the right attacking side about 35 yards from goal. Wilkes and Green hovered over the ball with Wilkes faking a right-footed kick, Green faking a right-footed kick then Wilkes making a left-footed in-swinging free kick. Colorado corralled and cleared the attempt to the sideline where it came back to Wilkes. The junior unleashed a cross toward the six-yard box with Brenna McPartlan charging on a free run to the ball. The keeper, weary of McPartlan's free run, stayed central in goal in case of a header. McPartlan whiffed on the ball, but the cross carried into the vacated far post giving the Jags a 1-0 lead.
- Colorado went into overdrive offensively, but the Jaguar defense did not make a misstep as the backline offered only chances from distance over the next 30 minutes.
- In the final 80 seconds, a last gasp cross was sent in off Gayle's arm and ruled a hand ball with the free kick just outside the Jaguar goal box on the left side. Colorado's Shanade Hopcroft sent in an in-swinging shot but the ball knocked off the top of the cross bar and out of bounds.
- The Jags ran out the clock, keeping a clean sheet and advancing to the second round of the NCAA tournament.

NOTES
- South Alabama played its eighth NCAA tournament game in the last eight years, and will play its ninth in three days.
- This is the second time USA has made it to the second round of the tournament but the first time doing it outside of winning in The Cage.
- Both victories came against Power-5 opponents with Colorado joining LSU, which the Jags defeated 4-0 on Nov. 14, 2015.
- In eight games, this is the first contest in the NCAA Tournament decided by a single goal for South Alabama.
- Tilly Wilkes became the first Jag to pocket a goal in the NCAA tournament since Audrey Duren scored against Florida on Nov. 10, 2017
- Wilkes' goal was the second game-winning goal she scored this year, with the first coming in double-overtime to beat Troy on Sept. 20.
- Luckhardt became the second goal keeper to record a shutout in the NCAA tournament, recording three saves. While not officially recorded as stats, the Jag defense blocked multiple shots and crosses during the game.
- The freshman net minder joins Sarah Hay as the only other keeper to record a win in the NCAA Tournament for USA.
- The Olive Branch, Miss., native picked up her third clean sheet of the season, all occurring in the Spring.
- Leonie Salzgeber made her collegiate debut, entering the match in the 75th minute.

THEY SAID IT
Head Coach Richard Moodie
- On the match: "The student-athletes were the superstars today; they came in, knew what we needed to do and executed it. I genuinely feel the better team won on the evening. Colorado is a good team and had a great season. I'm just so proud of the players and I know that's a cliché answer but everything we set out to do, they did it and that was the key to the success this evening."

-  On the goal: "It was not a fluky goal; it is something we've worked on in the training grounds and we've scored with it three times; two have been brought back due to offside, but to me it was a deliberate and intentional goal with bad defending. [Tilly] Wilkes was deserving of the goal. She was fantastic and to mentally come back on after being smacked in the head, I thought she showed true character to the team."

- On the defense: "My student-athletes were warriors. We've not kept a clean sheet in forever and ultimately, we knew minimize mistakes and we will find a goal in there somewhere. You can't just highlight one player, Gabrielle Gayle, Leandra Flury, Deanna Green were unreal tonight. Brenna McPartlan played a massive part of in not conceding tonight, and did not necessarily like her role but knew how important it was to the team. Allison Luckhardt played a massive role with a great save tonight too."

- On sending in Salzgeber: "She has played there in practice and did really well. We needed somebody to step in that was going to come in and work hard. She's a center back but she came in and gave us something. We put a player on the field that we thought was going to run hard and work for the team and she did the job for us. It was only six or seven minutes, but it takes a squad, and she did exactly what we needed her to do."

- On win number 100: "Take the 100 wins and NCAA tournament out of it, this one is so special because the girls this week had an objective to work on, they bought into it and did everything they set out to do. Nothing to do with me, nothing to do with win 100, nothing to do with the national tournament; was it in the back of my head [the NCAA tournament result]? Always, but the 100th win, I did not even think about it. We are one of 32 teams that will still be playing after tomorrow. We're back to as far as this team has ever been. I appreciate the 100 wins, but the student-athletes were the superstars tonight."

UP NEXT
- The Jaguars move on to face Oklahoma State of the Big 12 on April 30. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. (7 p.m. local) at MacPherson Stadium in Bryan Park.

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