Troy soccer battles in first conference win of 2024

Taylor Fraze photo Nittany Vega holds the ball in Troy’s match against Appalachian State.

After a tough 4-1 home loss against the Appalachian State Mountaineers Thursday night, Troy soccer picked up its first Sun Belt Conference win on the road against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.

The App State match saw both teams enter halftime tied 1-1 before the Mountaineers rattled off two early second half goals and another goal in the 89th minute to seal the deal. Hailey Phillips scored her second goal of the season for Troy in the first half, but App State’s 20 shots were too much for the Trojans to handle.

The Trojans were at a deadlock with the Chanticleers for much of the match until Jiselle Daniels scored an 82nd minute goal on her birthday to propel Troy to a 1-0 victory against Coastal Carolina.

“Great to see Jiselle get her first Troy goal and on her birthday too,” said head coach Stuart Gore in an interview with Troy Athletics.

On top of netting the game winning goal, Daniels also recorded a career-high six shots against the Chanticleers, breaking her previous high of five.

The Trojans also tied a season high with six shots on goal.

“Great team effort today against a talented Coastal team,” said Gore. “We worked our socks off today and we finally got our first win in conference.”

Freshman Sofia Sasan saw her first career start and recorded one shot.

After recording a career-high eight saves against the Mountaineers, the most saves by a Trojan keeper since October 20, 2022, Nittany Vega saved all three of the Chanticleers shots on goal en route to her first career clean sheet.

The Trojan defenders were also stellar holding the Chanticleer offense to eight shots, the fewest the Trojans have allowed in Sun Belt play this season.

The Trojans are back in action at home Thursday when they wrap up their season against the Arkansas State Red Wolves. That match is set to kick off at 6 p.m. and will be streamed on ESPN+.