By Matt Present. BOONE, N.C. — App State soccer defeated Southern Miss 1-0 in their home finale, capping an undefeated home season at The Valley, and extending their home unbeaten streak to a program-record ten consecutive games.
“It’s huge for our program, it’s huge for these girls who give their all for App every day on this field, and I think a lot of the pride and hard work that they put in on this field goes into those unbeaten games,” said head coach Aimee Haywood.
“The student presence tonight was awesome, we’re super grateful for that, and hope to have more of that next season and in the spring. We’re really proud of our team and how far they’ve come, and we’re excited about the future of soccer at The Valley, it just keeps getting better.”
It was the Mountaineers’ seventh shutout of the season, tying a program record.
App State (7-5-3, 4-2-2) wasted no time taking the lead in front of a lively Thursday night crowd in Boone. Just over two minutes into the contest, Izzi Wood dribbled the ball towards the end line and fired a pass towards the middle that deflected off of the Southern Miss goalkeeper and right to Olivia Simon who headed in the finish for her fourth goal of the season.
The Mountaineer defense was strong throughout the match, making the lone goal hold up. Kerry Eagleston recorded four saves and collected her 24th career clean sheet, tying Breland Meany (’01-’04) for the Mountaineer shutout record.
The defense was good in front of Eagleston, limiting the quality of the Golden Eagles (6-8-1, 3-4-1) chances, on their way to their seventh shutout of the season, tying the program record which has been accomplished four times prior.
App State and Southern Miss finished the match with 13 shots apiece, but the Mountaineers held the advantage 7-4 in shots on target. Wood, Simon, and Summer Bowman each tallied a trio of shots for the Black and Gold.
App State will conclude regular season play with a pair of road trips, beginning with a match at Arkansas State on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET, and continuing with a Thursday night showdown with Georgia State at 6 p.m. Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+.
