STATESBORO, Ga. – Friday evening will go down as one of the oddest Georgia Southern women's soccer games. The Eagles hosted a surging South Alabama Jaguars program, after being on the road for nearly 40 days. In those 40 days the Eagles traveled over 10,000 miles, enough to go from coast to coast five times.

The evening began with partly cloudy skies and a nice breeze, which Statesboro hasn't seen in a while. The Eagles came out with a lot of intensity and controlled most of the first half possession including outshooting the Jaguars 8-2 in the first half.

In the 40^th minute the skies opened up and the rain began to fall hard. Fans scrambled to their cars and to find cover, but the teams finished the first half and headed into the locker rooms for halftime. The match was level at 0 coming out of half with the rain still coming down at a steady pace.

As the teams took the field for the second half the pitch was soggy and had standing water all over the place. The second half began and both teams were a little confused as to how to handle the situation that was being thrown at them. The Jaguars and Eagles were slipping and sliding all over the place and nobody could control the ball for more than a few moments.

Every time someone attempted to make a pass or shoot, the ball would stop dead within feet of the person who tried playing the ball. Failed crosses and balls played over the top would create almost golf like divots in the pitch and the game was basically unplayable. The Jaguars somehow managed to scrape together some goals in the second half.

MATCH FACTS
South Alabama (6-4-1) (4-0-0) – 4
Georgia Southern (3-6-1) (1-3-0) – 0

SCORING
45' - USA – Tina Trutsi (4) (Deanna Green)
63' – USA – Briana Morris (2) (Hannah Godfrey)
78' – USA – Rio Hardy (5) (Tina Trutsi, Audrey Duren)
85' – USA – Rio Hardy (6) (Unassisted)

NOTES
- Eagles outshot the Jaguars 8-2 in the first half
- Georgia Southern played the final 10:18 under protest due to poor field conditions and unsafe play
- Lauren Karinshak added five more saves to her season total, improving her to 42 on the season
- Rio Hardy scored two goals for the Jaguars improving her season total to 6
- The field was covered in about an inch and a half of water following halftime, stopping passes feet from where they began.

WHAT HEAD COACH BRIAN DUNLEAVY SAID
"We were excellent in the first half. We outshot them 8-2 and had great spells of possession. We were the team on the front foot and it was a high quality game. South Alabama looked good as well, they played some good stuff. Obviously, we needed to score and do so in the first half, because in the field was completely unplayable. Unfortunately no recognizable soccer was actually played. Ultimately, it was South Alabama that adjusted to the conditions better than we did. The only way you could play was to flick the ball in the air to yourself so you could kick it; then the team that could catch up to it and judge the ridiculous path of the ball and kick it in the goal would win. I've never seen anything like it in my life and it's a shame because it was good soccer in the first half. I'm disappointed for my players because they were excellent, people will look at this score line and think we were truly beaten, it's not the case. It was dangerous conditions and I'm just glad no one got hurt."
 
NEXT UP
The Eagles will host Arkansas State Sunday at 12:00 p.m. at Eagle Field.
 
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