TROY, Ala. – The Jackson State University Tigers soccer team kicked off the 2019 season on Friday night against Troy University by falling to the Lady Trojans by a final score of 7-0.
 
The Tigers and Trojans exchanged possession after possession for the first twenty-five minutes of the contest before Troy's Kate Eubanks found the back of the net on a deflected ball back to her from Tigers goalie Thea Ebbe Brich, who had just made a remarkable diving save seconds before the deflection back to Eubanks. 
 
Unfortunately, the deflection led to the first goal of the game and a Trojan lead of 1-0, just twenty-five minutes into the start of the game. 
 
Moments later, the Lady Trojans extended its lead to 2-0 with a quick ball into the back of the net from Nathali Dasilva in the 30^thminute of the game. 
 
The Blue and White had a few opportunities at the net, shooting twice with two shots on goal by Patricia Calderon and Alexis Henriquez, but were unsuccessful as both shots were saved by Troy's starting goalie, Haleigh Mercer.
 
Jackson State held Troy for the remaining minutes of the half as they took a 2-0 deficit into the break. 
 
Troy returned from the break, scoring two goals within a matter of one minute and 58 seconds of each other, with the second of the two goals coming by way of a penalty kick. 
 
Both goals gave the Lady Trojans a 4-0 lead in the 55^thminute of play. 
 
In the 77^thminute of play, Nathali Dasilva scored her third goal of the game to give Troy a 5-0 advantage before turning around two minutes later for the sixth goal of the game, giving the Trojans the 6-0 lead.
 
Troy found the net one final time in the 84^thminute of the game as the Trojans went on to defeat the Tigers by a final score of 7-0. 
 
Jackson State fell to 0-1 to begin the Ted Flogaites era while the Trojans begin their season in the win column.

JSU ended tonights match with a total of four shots, with three shots on goal.

Tanagna Payne, Ivana Setka, Patricia Calderon and Alexis Henriquez each tallied a shot on the night to lead the Blue and White.
 
The Tigers will look to rebound against South Alabama on Sunday with that game slated to begin at 11:30 a.m. in Troy, Ala. 

QUOTABLE

Coach Dr. Ted Flogaites on the overall match with Troy

"It was a wild one, almost Shakespearean: a penalty, a goal issued that was blatantly offsides, we played down a player for a huge chunk of the 2nd half, a red card, several yellows, but to be fair I thought we were pretty decent in the first half. Half our lineup was full of new players and freshmen, and we had some very gutsy performances from players that were carrying little injuries.  Of course, it wasn't the debut we wanted, far from it, but there were stretches of time in which we played some nice stuff".

On what his team can take away from this game
"I have been saying this over and over, but we are a brand new program.  This evening was basically the first match of the new program, and I love these kids deeply.  We have some deficiencies we are aware of, but as with anything in life, real improvement doesn't happen overnight, it takes time.  If you focus on the scoreline, you'll miss that if we can piece a few things together over the course of the next few weeks, we can become dangerous.  It was a hard loss, but no loss is enjoyable.  As the old adage goes, you never lose: You either win or learn. We learned a lot today about ourselves and our group.  Turn the page, life goes on".


SOCIAL MEDIA
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