Women's Soccer

Hannah's Two Goals Lift Jags Past Trojans to Advance to Semifinals

MOBILE, Ala. - Top-seeded South Alabama survived a scare by No. 8 UALR and advanced to Friday's semifinals with a 2-1 win over the Trojans in the final match of Wednesday's opening round at the 2014 Sun Belt Conference Women's Soccer Championship.

The win improved the Jaguars to 17-2-1 overall as they will face fourth-seeded Georgia Southern at 7 p.m. (CT) on Friday. The Eagles defeated Appalachian State, 1-0, in the third match of the day on Wednesday.

All top seeds advanced to Friday's semifinals with the first three matches all with identical, 1-0, scores.

For the second consecutive game, UALR got a game-tying goal against the Sun Belt regular-season champions and looked to have some momentum building. But for the second consecutive game, the champs struck right back and came away with the win.

USA's Charde Hannah got the scoring going early in the match with a goal in the match's ninth minute putting the Jags up 1-0 in the first half.

Just like the Trojans did when the teams met for their regular-season finale on Oct. 28, UALR put a scare into South Alabama on Wednesday when Linnea Kogsta got her goal in the 49th minute equalizing the Jags.
The play began with a corner kick, and the ball bounced around the box briefly before the Jaguars cleared it away from danger. But senior Alyson Rohane was there to play the ball back into the box, and Kogsta stuck her foot out to redirect the ball past South Alabama keeper Sarah Hay. Rohane’s assist was the 10th of her career, putting her in sole possession of ninth all-time at UALR in that category.

However, the UALR celebration would unfortunately be short-lived. Just 105 seconds after Kogsta scored, USA's Hannah got her second goal of the night, driving past a UALR defender to put Hannah in a one-on-one situation with Trojan keeper Sara Cavanagh, putting the ball in the back of the net in the 51st-minute and the eventual game-winner for the Jags.

The Trojan season comes to an end at 11-8-1 - one of the most successful seasons in school history.

South Alabama outshot UALR 16-11, but the teams were even with five corner kicks apiece.

The 2014 championship continues with the first of two semifinal matches scheduled for Friday, Nov. 7 at 4 p.m (CT) and the second at 7 p.m. (CT). Those winners will meet in Sunday's championship at 1 p.m. (CT) on ESPN3.