Second-Half Magic Pushes Trojans to 2-1 Victory Over Little Rock

Thursday, October 17

Troy, Ala.

7 p.m.

Troy University

10-2-4, 5-1-2

Little Rock

5-6-6, 2-2-4

Little Rock

TROY

Photo by: Chip Dillard

Second-Half Magic Pushes Trojans to 2-1 Victory Over Little Rock

10/17/2019 9:47:00 PM | Soccer

Box Score

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. -- Facing the program's first home deficit of the season, the Troy Trojans soccer program, behind two second-half strikes defeated Little Rock 2-1 Thursday night in the Troy Soccer Complex season finale.

By virtue of tonight's victory, Troy clinched a spot in the Sun Belt Conference for the 12^th consecutive season and completed an unbeaten homestand for the first time since 2014, when the Trojans went a perfect 9-0 at Troy Soccer Complex.

After starting the match strong, the Trojans allowed a 35^th minute goal when Little Rock's (5-6-6, 2-2-4 Sun Belt) Julia Edholm took a pass from Morgan Smocovich and lofted a shot that just eluded the reach of Haleigh Mercer.

Heading into the locker room down 1-0, Troy found its footing in the second-half, tying the match in the 67^th minute when Kate Lorenz rocketed a shot from 25-yards out into the upper-left side of the net for her second goal of the season.

The Trojans ultimately struck for the game-winning goal in the 83^rd minute when freshman Melissa Kuya-Strobel received a long pass from Kiersten Edlund and fired a shot into the bottom left-hand corner of the net. The assist for Edlund was her 11^th of the season, which breaks Alissa Jones' all-time mark (10) set back in 2014.

Troy returns to action next Friday night when they head to San Marcos to take on Texas State. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

NOTEWORTHY:
• Troy won for the first time all season when they allowed the first goal of the match. The Trojans were previously 0-2-1 in those instances.
• Troy outscored its opponents 27-4 over the last seven home matches.
• The Trojans are now unbeaten in five consecutive matches.
• Tonight's two-goal performance is Troy's ninth multiple-goal game of the season.
• The Trojans have now outscored opponents 35-13 this season and 21-5 in the second half.
• Troy has scored in 10 consecutive matches.
• With the victory Troy is now just two points behind South Alabama (19 points) with two matches remaining. The Jaguars close out the regular season with a pair of home matches against Little Rock (Sunday) and App State (Oct. 25). Troy closes out the season next weekend at Texas State (Oct. 25) and at Louisiana (Oct. 27).
• Edlund entered the day tied for third in the country in assists. With her assist tonight she moves into second place in the country.
• Mercer recorded her sixth game with at least five saves this season.

GED TALKS:
"Tonight felt like three different games. We started out great and we looked like the team we know that we are. We were playing the ball all over the place. Then I think we got a little bit too confident and arrogant and they took advantage of it. Little Rock scored off a counter-attack and now we're behind the eight-ball. We re-organized after half and talked about being disciplined. We came out in the second half and played exceptionally well and handled the pressure well. We kept to the game plan and fortunately got the victory. While clinching a spot in the Sun Belt Tournament was nice, our players have bigger goals. We expect to finish near the top of the table. There's not point in accomplishing what we have so far and beating South like we did if we don't finish it off. They've been playing great but need to take care of us and our job and we'll see what happens down south."

On the individual performances tonight:
"Tonight was a true team performance. Kate Lorenz got us going with her goal despite not feeling well and then we have our captain Rina [Valeriano] at right-back doing great things. And then Melissa has come in from overseas and scored five incredible goals for us."