Trojans Drop Coastal Carolina for Senior Day Victory

Sunday, October 18

Troy, Ala.

1 p.m.

Troy University

1-6-1, 1-6-1

Coastal Carolina

5-3-0, 5-3-0

Coastal Carolina

TROY

Trojans Drop Coastal Carolina for Senior Day Victory

10/18/2020 5:22:00 PM | Soccer

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By: Troy Athletics Communications

TROY, Ala. -- It may have been senior day Sunday afternoon at the Troy Soccer Complex, but a pair of freshmen provided key performances, as the Troy soccer program dropped red-hot Coastal Carolina 1-0 to send seniors Eleonore Freby and Karina Valeriano out with a victory.

In the victory, Troy (1-6-1, 1-6-1 Sun Belt) received a 16th-minute strike from freshman Sydney Babineaux and a pair of saves from goalkeeper Lindsey LaRoche. The goal was Babineaux first career goal, while LaRoche earned her first career victory and clean sheet.

Troy outshout the Chanticleers (5-3, 5-3 Sun Belt) 11-7 Sunday, and held the potent Chants attack without a goal for the first time this season.

The Trojans started the match quickly Sunday, as Freby recorded the first shot on goal of the game in the fifth minute.

After three straight CCU shots resulted in just one LaRoche save, the Trojans went on the attack, as sophomore Melissa Kuya-Strobel made an impressive run down the left-hand side of the field.

The German found an open Babineaux about 25-yards away from the net, who calmly took the pass and ripped a right-footed shot into the upper right-hand corner of the net. The goal was Troy's first opening half goal since Georgia Southern back on Oct. 4.

Troy nearly doubled its lead six minutes later when Kuya-Strobel's rebound found Taytum Terrell wide-open in the box. The sophomore ripped a shot that clanged off the top of the cross-bar, missing the unoccupied net by mere inches.

After neither side recorded a solid chance on frame the remainder of the half, the two teams went to the locker room with the home side in front by a goal.

In the second half, Terrell had the Trojans two best chances to score, but both times (48th-minute, 70th-minute) her rising shots were saved by reigning Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week Ky Hudson. For the match, Hudson made six saves.

The Chanticleers best scoring opportunity came in the 57th-minute when Lorenna Austin's dangerous chance from about 25-yards out just missed the right-hand corner of the net before tumbling out of bounds.

Troy closes out the regular season next weekend with a pair of contests at Georgia State (Oct. 23) and at Georgia Southern (Oct. 25).

Kickoff for Friday's contest between the Panthers and Trojans is set for 6 p.m. Central.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
• With Sunday's victory the Trojans recorded the first victory over Coastal Carolina in program history.
• Troy led at the half for the first time this season.
• With Babineaux's first half strike, the Trojans have now seen 14 goals scored by true freshman the last two seasons.
• The victory today snapped Troy's three-match losing streak.
• The Trojans improve to 8-3-1 in their last 12 home matches.
• Troy outshot App State and Coastal 25-9 this weekend.
• Three of Troy's six goals this season have been scored by true freshman.
• Alicia Victoria made her first career start.

GED TALKS:
"The victory today was the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of different players. This wasn't the prettiest game because I think both teams were tired after Friday. That combined with the temperature made it a challenging game for both teams. Fortunately, it was another great experience for our team. Senior day is always a special day. I was talking with one of our seniors last year, Maddie Brune who was here today, and she said today brought back memories of her senior day. It's a day that Rina and Eleonore won't forget. It was great to get our first win of the season. Now we need to make sure our girls stay grounded and are ready for the next game which is the most important of the season. Now we expect to have three great days of training as we get ready for the final two games."

On Freby and Valeriano:
"They're great players, but even better people. There are always kids who you never want to graduate, and both Rina and Eleonore are those type of people. They're fantastic people and soccer players, and I wish them nothing but the best moving forward. It was great after what's been a challenging season that we were able to win this one for them. This will certainly be a special memory for them. Next season we're going to definitely miss their experience, leadership and maturity in the locker room. They bring some much more to our program than their on-field contributions. They've done a really good job of developing and building our future here and showing and teaching them the right way. It's been a privilege to coach them."

On the lineup changes:
"We have a lot of good players on our team. Having played three matches in a week, and two in just over 36 hours, we tried to rotate the girls as much as we could. We tried to make sure we kept the team healthy and gave everyone a chance to make an impact. I thought the players who played today did a great job this week in training. Looking back, I probably could have given Eva Kristjansdottir more minutes today too. But I decided to change it up and it worked out. Everyone wants to play but not everyone can."