Southeastern soccer dropped its second match of the season Sunday afternoon (Aug. 25) against South Alabama, 2-1 at Strawberry Stadium in a rainy affair which was stopped twice for weather delays. 

The Lady Lions are now 0-1-1 for the year following their scoreless 0-0 draw at home vs. Grambling over a week ago (Aug. 16).  

Graduate forward Nicole O’Neill opened the scoring for SLU (23’) after redshirt junior midfielder Rylee Franklin delivered a pinpoint cross into the box, asking for someone to get on the end of it. 

The Dublin, Ireland native obliged with an impressive diving header at the far post, making it 1-0 to the Green and Gold. 

O’Neill met the ball with her head perfectly just ahead of her marker as the net rippled. 

“It started in the midfield. I distributed it to Katie [Brown] and she sent it to Rylee who did great taking her defender on 1v1 and delivered a ball on a dime into the box. I saw it in the air and just slid to get something on it. In those wet conditions, anything can happen and I was happy to get it on target,” O’Neill said. 

However, the Jaguars wasted no time getting back into the match and equalized just two minutes later through Irene Campo’s (25’) peach of a free kick. 

The sophomore midfielder delivered a curling effort into the roof of the net, just beyond the outstretched gloves of SLU keeper Kendall Curran, as the Jags found their equalizer.

Four minutes later, South Alabama added another goal to its tally. Senior forward Monique Gray (29’) coolly slotted home a teammate’s deflected shot into the net, making it 2-1 to the Jaguars. 

Freshman midfielder April Lantaigne’s initial effort was parried away by Curran, only to fall kindly at the feet of Gray, who tapped in the rebound. 

“When you have some freshmen playing in key roles, there’s going to be some mistakes. It’s a learning curve for them. We conceded and scored during the sideways rain. It was very hard to hold onto the ball in those playing conditions,” Gillespie said. 

In normal weather conditions, perhaps Curran would’ve been able to hold on to Lantaigne’s shot instead of slipping out of her mitts into the path of the opportunistic Gray. 

Gillespie added, “We still had good chances to tie and even win the game.

“In the spring, we lost 5-0 to South Alabama. Today, we lost 2-1 in a game that could have easily been 2-2 or even 3-2 in our favor. The change of performance was fantastic. It is 100% a building block and we will take confidence from this.”

Adaptability was a keyword Gillespie mentioned in his postgame comments, saying how his side transitioned well from an attacking style of play vs. Grambling in the opener as opposed to having more of a defensive shape against South Alabama, yet still created quality chances on the counter. 

USA outshot SLU 12 (7) to 5 (4) while earning four corner kicks to the Lady Lion’s three. 

Southeastern’s goalies, Curran and Anna Blankenship, combined for five saves, while South Alabama’s Allison Luckhardt produced three. 

SLU graduate midfielder Kelsey Fuller was the only player carded during the match despite USA committing 12 fouls compared to seven for Southeastern. 

Overall, the Lady Lions’ performance was a cause for optimism. The Jaguars were Sun Belt regular season conference champions last year, going unbeaten in league play. 

The Jags’ 16-1-3 (8-0-2 SBC) only loss came at the hands of James Madison, 1-0, in the semifinals of the conference tournament, effectively ending their season. 

“I thought we connected our passes and stayed in our [defensive] block well,” O’Neill said, adding that SLU was dangerous counterattacking. 

Next up for the Green and Gold is a Saturday, Aug. 31 contest at Jackson State. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. between the Lady Lions and the Tigers.