BATON ROUGE, La. – Coming in having gone winless in their last three, Alabama A&M (4-8-1, 2-2-1 SWAC) went to work at fixing that right away with a pair of first half goals in a 2-0 victory at Southern (5-8-1, 2-3-0 SWAC) in an NCAA Division I women's soccer game on Friday, October 14.
 
The Bulldogs would take just three shots in the first half, compared to eight for SU, and they would make them count. Following three shots by the Jaguars over the first 14:01, they would make a critical mistake on defense with the keeper picking up a yellow card in the box that led to a penalty kick at the 16:25 mark. That opportunity would fall to senior defender Alana Paul (Clinton, Md.), who proceeded to bury it in the back of the net for a 1-0 lead on A&M's first shot of the night.
 
After seeing one of the veterans come through to get things started, just over 12 minutes later one of the new pieces of the program's foundation would come through. Freshman K'la Barnes-Blackwood (Margate, Fla.) would make it 2-for-2 for Alabama A&M as she connected at 28:50 for a 2-0 lead.
 
Southern would respond by firing off five shots over the remainder of the half, including three straight in a two-and-a-half minute stretch shortly after that goal – including two requiring a save. Volume would not equal a change on the scoreboard, however, as the Bulldogs defense was equal to the task and maintained that two-goal margin heading to the half.
 
That trend would continue in the second half as the Bulldogs allowed just three shots over the final 45 minutes, with only one of those requiring a save. That would come right at the 82^nd minute mark and be handled by freshman Ma'Kayla Prince (Hamilton, Ohio), a midfielder playing out of position between the pipes, to help secure the 2-0 victory minutes later.
 
A&M would be led by solo scores by Paul and Barnes-Blackwood, both converting on their only shots of the night, while junior defender Victoria Mealing (Alexandria, Va.) notched an assist. Prince would anchor the defense as she went all 90 minutes in net, recording seven saves to pick up the club's third shutout and improve to 1-0.
 
The Jaguars would fire off 11 shots and put am impressive seven on frame but would not connect on any of them. Leading that charge was Lonnie Mulligan with a game-high four shots, two on net, while Sydney Bellamy gave up both goals and made a pair of saves to fall to 5-8-1.
 
The Bulldogs are right back in action on Sunday, October 16 when they travel to Jackson State. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in Jackson, Mississippi.