HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Coming in riding a stretch of 209 minutes in which they had not allowed a goal, Alabama A&M (2-2, 0-0 SWAC) would extend that to 253 minutes but would fall by a narrow 1-0 margin to Jacksonville (1-0-1, 0-0-0 ASUN) in an NCAA Division I women's soccer game on Sunday, August 28.
That stretch dated back to the 61
st minute in their season opener at the College of Charleston (8/18) and the Bulldogs would turn away nine shots over the first 44 minutes to push it past the 250 mark.
That run would come to an end in the final minute of the first half, however, as the Dolphins' Anaya Black skirted the defense along the left side, recovered the ball when it was knocked away from her and just got it across the line for a narrow 1-0 lead at 44:09. The teams would then head to the break with that one goal margin.
After managing just two shots in the first half, back-to-back attempts right before the goal, A&M fired off five in the second half, putting three on frame.
All three of those would come in the final 10 minutes with junior midfielder
Victoria Mealing (Alexandria, Va.) firing one off at 80:20, senior forward
Makayla Rushing (Red Oak, Texas) putting one on net at 86:36 and senior goalkeeper
Laura Jansa (Barcelona, Spain) coming up to take a free kick at 87:26. Jacksonville keeper Murphy Sheaff, who had come on in relief in the second half, was equal to the task as she made a save on each to keep the Bulldogs off the board and escape with the narrow 1-0 victory.
Jansa, Rushing and Mealing were three of the of the seven players that fired off a shot for Alabama A&M but each of these put theirs on net to lead the way. Defensively it would be Jansa with another strong performance as she played all 90 minutes, making six saves and allowing just the one score to suffer the loss and fall to 2-2 on the year.
For the Dolphins, Black had the lone score on the day, connecting on half of her shot attempts, while Beyonce Robinson put all three of hers on frame. Selma Foher finished with four shots and two on goal to round out the offense. In net, Courtney Green started and was the beneficiary of that goal as she improved to 1-0-1 on the year while Gretchen Duttenhofer played 24:31 in relief, both making no saves, and Sheaff made three saves in 20:29.
The Bulldogs return to action on Thursday, September 1 when they travel to Southern Illinois. Game time is set for 6 p.m. in Carbondale, Illinois.
NOTES
Alabama A&M had previously held the College of Charleston scoreless for the final 29 minutes of their match on August 18 and shutout in-state foes Troy (8/22) and Jacksonville State (8/26) for a total of 209 minutes … the first 44 scoreless minutes against Jacksonville pushed that total to 253.
