The Troy soccer team’s eight-game win streak was snapped on Friday, Sept. 26, with a 2-1 loss on the road to the University of South Alabama.
The game was the third visit to Mobile in eight days for the Trojans (8-3, 0-1 Sun Belt), and they were unable to bounce back after a sloppy start.
Three minutes into the match, USA freshman forward Rio Hardy took advantage of a bad pass and scored to stun the Trojans early. Already reeling, the Trojans suffered another blow as it took the Jaguars (9-2, 1-0 Sun Belt) just four more minutes to score again.
Freshman midfielder Sophie Haywood scored a free kick that got past freshman goalkeeper Mikki Lewis.
Down 2-0 just seven minutes into the match, the Trojans clamped down on defense and were able to keep the Jaguars from scoring for the rest of the match. USA’s offense struggled to score, due to a five-save performance by Jaguar sophomore goalkeeper Sarah Hay.
Troy’s efforts to get on the board were rewarded in the 83rd minute when senior defender Georgia Wallis came through with a goal to cut the Jaguars’ lead to 2-1.
Unfortunately, it was too little too late, as the Trojans paid for their early mistakes and started conference play with a loss.
“Our mistakes hurt us,” head coach Jason Hamilton said. “We gave up two goals on mistakes we shouldn’t have made. I thought we played good soccer at times. We’ll learn from our mistakes and continue to work and get better.”
Troy will return home and continue conference play against University of Louisiana-Lafayette on Friday, Oct. 3. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.
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