MOBILE, Ala. ? Two goals by freshman Tiara Smith sparked the Jaguars to a 3-0 win on Senior Night over Troy on Friday at The Cage. USA finishes the regular season 7-11-1 and 5-5-1 in the Sun Belt, while Troy falls to 2-15-1 and 1-10 in the conference.
Prior to the game, the Jags honored three seniors playing their last game at The Cage. Seniors Karrie Johnson, Tiffanie Stewart and Jenn Edgar were honored with their parents in attendance.
On a wet and humid night, the teams had trouble getting adjusted to the playing conditions early. Neither team had much offense for the first 20 minutes, but the Jags began moving the ball around 25 minutes into the game. Freshman Sam Stocker received a nice through ball from fellow freshman Shundel Francis at the top of the box and fired the first shot of the game past Katy Kolb for the game winner.
Just over 12 minutes later, USA struck again as freshman Tiara Smith took a great pass from junior Kelly Tarrant on a long run and beat Kolb for the score. USA had a 5-0 lead in shots in the first half.
Not more than two minutes into the second half, the Jags scored the third goal as Smith found herself wide open for the score from the top of the box.
Troy had an opportunity to get on the board later in the half as Evelyn Keith was fouled inside the box and received the penalty kick. A diving sophomore Kelsie Langford made the save to preserve the shutout.
USA had an 8-2 advantage in shots and 6-1 in shots on goal. Langford had two saves for the Jags. Stocker and Smith led the team with two shots on goal each.
The Jags will now head to Lafayette, La., for the 2006 Sun Belt Conference Championship beginning Wednesday.
