NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Zuri Prince scored a magnificent goal in the 65th minute for the only tally of the game, as Stephen F. Austin defeated the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi women's soccer team 1-0 on Friday night.
The LadyJacks won their 12th game in a row and improved to 10-0-0 in Southland play with the victory. The Islanders fell to 4-8-3 overall on the season and 3-6-1 in league action, as they were eliminated from contention for one of the six spots in the Southland Soccer Tournament. Megan Delaney made 11 saves in a losing effort, while Morgan Glick picked up her eighth shutout of the year in the victory for SFA.
"Tonight was a complete team effort and I'm nothing but proud of this team," head coach Shanna Caldwell said. "We came out to play from the opening whistle and we battled for 90 minutes. We gad a few good looks at goal and moved the ball well. We stayed organized in the back and were communicating across the field.
"Our next task is to keep this momentum and composure heading into Sunday," she added.
The first half was evenly played, with both squads playing strong on the defensive end. The Islanders had a solid chance in the 35th after being awarded a free kick just outside of the box, but Jacey Love's shot went just wide of the frame. SFA had two strong opportunities in the closing minute, the final one on a cross through the box that could not be handled, and the teams went to the locker rooms still knotted at 0-0.
Out of the break, the LadyJacks came on strong, applying tremendous pressure on the Islanders defense. The Islanders remained steadfast, though, keeping the home squad at bay with a combination of strong play in goal by Megan Delaney and timely defensive plays from the back four.
That continued until the 65th minute, when Prince finally cracked the scoreboard on one of the finest goals scored against the Islanders in program history. Brooke Dunnigan started the play on a corner on the left side and sent a ball toward the top of the box. A fellow LadyJack then floated the ball toward the far post, and Prince cut across, leapt and played the ball with the back of her heel just inside the post to make it 1-0 at the 64:42 mark.
A&M-Corpus Christi improved its attack after the goal, getting several solid chances on the offensive end, but seeing shots by Aulona Velaj and Zoe Cole go wide of frame. From there, SFA was able to close out the victory by maintaining possession for most of the final five minutes of action.
The Islanders will close out the 2014 season on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Natchitoches, La., when they take on Northwestern State. Live stats and video will be available on NSUDemons.com and updates will be provided on Twitter (@IslandersSoccer).
