MONTGOMERY, Ala. - The Jackson State soccer team scored a season high two goals in Friday evenings matchup with Alabama State. However, when the clock struck all zeros on the scoreboard, it was simply not enough to earn the victory against the Lady Hornets, as JSU fell by a final score of 3-2 to fall to 0-10 and 0-2 in conference play. 

The Tigers have battled through an adverse schedule through the first ten games of the season and had to endure through injuries and growing pains for a relatively youthful squad. 

Yet, despite remaining winless so far through the first half of the season, one thing remains as a common denominator for coach Flogaites' Lady Tigers, they keep pushing forward and are relentless in their efforts not to give up at the adversity. 

"Quitting isn't in us" said the first year head coach of the Tigers, without hesitation.  

"I'll have to do a better job than I'm doing to get certain messages across, but I love our team and the players on it."

The Tigers, who have improved drastically with their defensive play each and every week, entered the contest with one goal made on the season. 

That all changed within minutes of the first tick on the clock as senior Jalah Carter put the first goal of the entire match through the back of the net to quickly put JSU ahead 1-0 in the first six minutes of play.

It was an uplifting spark for a team that has been through the ups and downs of the season as the goal was an indicator of the success that could lie ahead for a team growing each and every day.

While the Tigers maintained a 1-0 lead midway through the first half, the Lady Hornets answered with two goals of their own just before the break to take a halftime lead of 2-1.

Alabama State extended it's lead to 3-1 in the second half before Brynn Walker notched a goal of her own to cut the lead back down to one goal, 3-2.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, the two goals were not enough to come away with a win but the those goals do indeed symbolize a team that is piecing things together to build the program in the right direction here in year one of the Flogaites era as it was a season high for scores in a match. 

The Blue and White continue to improve both offensively and defensively and it is only a matter of time before the youthful Tigers click on all cylinders as JSU finished with a game high 13 total shots as a team including nine shots on goals. Both were season highs for the Lady Tigers this year. 

Preseason First Team All SWAC team member Jalah Carter led the Tigers Friday with a game high five shots and four shots on goal. Brynn Walker finished second with two shots and one on goal. Both Walker and Carter notched the only goals for JSU. 

Other notables players for the Blue and White included Carlee Griffiths and Sage Magruder, who each collected one shot apiece. Thea Ebbe Brich had three saves on 11 shots from the Lady Hornets.

"To anyone on the side it looks easy to win a match at the college level, but the reality of winning a match involves working at a totally different capacity. It means to reject "normal" effort in favor of "insane" effort. That's what it takes. We can lay around and feel sorry for ourselves or we can keep going until we get it right. I love these kids and it's my duty to help them unlock all of the drive and passion inside of them, and I never walk away from a challenge. Never."

The Tigers return to the field on Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. for another SWAC matchup with Alabama A&M in Huntsville, Ala. 
 

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For more soccer information and updates please follow the Tigers on Twitter at @GoJSUTigersSOC, Facebook at Jackson State Soccer, @gojsutigerssoc on Instagram. You can also follow head coach Ted Flogaites on Twitter @flogaites