DaSilva’s Hat Trick Leads Soccer to 7-0 Season Opening Victory

Friday, August 23

Troy, Ala.

7 p.m.

Troy University

1-0

Jackson State

0-1

Jackson St.

TROY

DaSilva’s Hat Trick Leads Soccer to 7-0 Season Opening Victory

8/24/2019 1:59:00 AM | Soccer

Box Score Troy 01 Photo Gallery (Chip Dillard)Photo Gallery

By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. -- The Troy soccer program opened the 2019 campaign in style Friday evening, defeating the Jackson State Lady Tigers 7-0 at the Troy Soccer Complex, as senior Nathali DaSilva began her senior season by recording her first career hat trick in just 69 total minutes of action.

Junior Haleigh Mercer played the majority of the match and recorded three saves, earning her third career clean sheet in the process. Overall, 19 players saw action in the match, and 10 different Trojans recorded a shot.

The match, which was delayed nearly 90 minutes, was Troy's (1-0) biggest margin of victory since a 9-0 victory over Jackson State (0-1) on Aug. 27, 2017.

After a physical back-and-forth start, the Trojans finally were able to break the ice in the 25^th minute when Kate Eubanks buried a rebound off an Alisa Detlefsen shot.

Troy's margin doubled just five minutes later when DaSilva received a Maddie Brune pass and knifed her way through the box, before depositing the ball in the back of the net.

After taking the comfortable 2-0 lead into the halftime break, the Trojans offense came to life in the second half, behind the crafty skills of DaSilva.

Just seven minutes into the second half DaSilva tripled Troy's lead when she received a perfect feed from Kendra Cashion that found the back of the net. Just 118 seconds later, the Trojans increased their lead again on a Kiersten Edlund penalty kick.

DaSilva's third goal of the evening occurred the 77^th minute, when the Brazilian received a beautiful feed from Cashion, before rocketing a right-footed shot past JSU goalkeeper Thea Ebbe Birch (0-1)

Junior Grace Mirly (78^th minute) and freshman Melissa Kuya-Strobel (83^rdminute) tallied the final two goals of the evening for the home side, who recorded an opening night victory for the second consecutive season.

UP NEXT

The Trojans return to action Sunday afternoon, when they host Tennessee Tech as part of the Trojan Classic. Kickoff from the Troy Soccer Complex is scheduled for 2 p.m.

GED TALKS:

"First, we have to credit Jackson State, because I don't think the final score is indicative of the competitive nature of tonight's match," head coach Ged O'Connor said. "It was a good game for us, and our fans. In terms of our performance, it really checks all of the boxes. We recorded a clean-sheet in our opener and were able to score a good amount of goals. We also escaped the game with no injuries, and we were able to give a large number of minutes to our younger players, which is critically important for us, especially early in the season. Overall it was a good team performance tonight, so hopefully we can close out the weekend with a similar performance on Sunday.

On Sunday's matchup with Tennessee Tech:
"We had a very difficult match against Tennessee Tech last season, when we dropped an overtime [2-1] heartbreaker. I think our returning players remember that match and know that we're going up against a very difficult team. In terms of styles of play, Tennessee Tech will be a completely different type of team than Jackson State was tonight. So it should be a great challenge for us."

Senior Natalie DaSilva:
"I'm very excited about how we played tonight," the senior said. "We got our first win of the season, which is the most important part. All of the credit goes to my teammates for putting me in position to score three times. We're really starting to learn each other styles and get connected. We've been practicing a lot to learn how to play with each other, and I think that hard work showed tonight."

NOTEWORTHY:
• Seven Trojans made their Troy debuts this evening, including Kuya-Strobel who scored his first career goal.
• Troy has now outscored its opponents 9-0 in the last two season openers.
• The Trojans have scored at least five goals in all three all-time matches against Jackson State. • The Lady Tigers have been outscored 21-0 in those three matchups.
• Troy has won five of its last seven season openers.
• Tonight's seven goals are the seventh most goals in program history. The Trojans last recorded a seven-goal performance against Alcorn St. back in 2011.
• The Trojans join Texas State as the only Sun Belt Conference schools to earn a victory so far this season.
• Kuya-Strobel becomes the first Trojan to score in her first collegiate match since 2013 when Necee scored in her first career match against Alabama State.
• DaSilva's hat trick is the 17^th hat trick in program history.
• Cashion's three assists tie the program single-game mark, accomplished last by senior Kate Lorenz (2017, Georgia State).
• Mirly recorded her first career multi-point game.