MOBILE, Ala. - Sophomore Kory Dixon scored with 4:44 left in the contest to give the University of South Alabama soccer team a 1-0 victory over Little Rock and the Sun Belt Conference title Friday afternoon at The Cage.
The Jaguars, who were already the only Sun Belt program to win three straight championships, has won four in a row dating back to 2014.
USA ends the regular season at 11-5-1 and 9-1 in the league. LR drops to 9-8-2 and 4-4-2.
GAME FACTS
- Senior Rio Hardy assisted on the game-winning goal, feeding Dixon with a throughball down the center of the park at the 85:16 mark
- Little Rock outshot South Alabama 9-3 in the first half, but the Jaguars held a 12-6 edge after halftime
- The Trojans put nine of their 15 attempts on goal, and the Jags had six shots hit the target
- Sophomore goalkeeper Justice Stanford made several big saves in the first half to keep the game scoreless - she made a leaping stop at 15:00, then had to make a stop on a close-range shot at 17:48
- Senior Tiina Trutsi cleared a Little Rock header off the line at 31:06, before Stanford made another diving stop seconds later on another header
- South Alabama recorded eight of the first nine shots of the second half, including an attempt from Trutsi that hit the post, and a strike from Dixon that grazed the top of the crossbar
- A long, bouncing free kick from Erna Gudjonsdottir at 69:23 was kept out by a diving Stanford, and Arola Aparicio Gili's rebound attempt hit the outside of the post
- Dixon almost broke the tie in the 77th minute with a close-range shot, but it went over the bar
NOTES
- Both of Dixon's goals this year have been game winners; her previous came in double overtime vs.