Troy soccer wins 10th home game

The Troy soccer team extended its home win streak to 10 games, with a pair of 2-0 wins over the University of Louisiana-Lafayette and University of Louisiana Monroe.

The ULL match on Friday, Oct. 3, was the first-ever night game at home for the Trojans (10-3, 2-1 Sun Belt), which they played in front of a record crowd of 620 fans.

A solid performance both offensively and defensively lifted Troy past the Ragin’ Cajuns (5-6-2, 0-3-1 Sun Belt), who were unable to score against freshman goalkeeper Mikki Lewis. It was her ninth victory as goalkeeper this season, the most ever by a freshman goalkeeper at Troy.

Sophomore midfielder Abby Reynolds scored her first goal of the season with a shot off an assist from junior midfielder Alissa Jones in the 21st minute.

 After that, it would be a back-and-forth battle until junior midfielder Louise Cheng scored Troy’s second goal early in the second half. The 47th-minute goal was Cheng’s first of the season as well, and put Troy in control for the rest of the match.

The Trojans’ success at home continued on Sunday, Oct. 5, when they defeated the University of Louisiana Monroe. The Warhawks (7-6-1, 1-3 Sun Belt) were also unable to score against the Trojans, who improved to 2-1 in the Sun Belt.

Lewis continued to make history at Troy by recording her 10th victory as a freshman. It was also her seventh shutout of the season.

After playing a scoreless first half, Troy was able to break the stalemate in the second half. Troy took 12 shots in the half, compared to two by ULM, giving the Trojans all the opportunity they needed to score.

Reynolds took this opportunity and scored her second and third goals of the season, giving Troy the win. Her first was in the 70th minute, when a shot was deflected off the crossbar. Reynolds then put it past the Warhawk goalkeeper to go up 1-0.

Reynolds wasn’t done, however, and it took her three minutes to score again. Reynolds took the ball off a throw-in and put it past the goalkeeper to put ULM away.

“We’re thrilled to win our second conference game,” said head coach Jason Hamilton. “We’re doing well at home, and it’s a good time to get back on a winning streak. We fixed all the problems we had last weekend at South Alabama. To have two wins this weekend hopefully will get us on the right track.”