Alabama State University Athletics

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The Alabama State women’s soccer team opened the home portion of its 2009 schedule with a hard-fought 7-0 loss to Tennessee Tech Friday night at Hornets Stadium.

With the loss, ASU slips to 0-3-0 while the win marked the first of the season for the Golden Eagles (1-3-0).

Sarah Gawthrop’s goal in the eighth minute sparked a quick scoring surge for TTU, as the visitors found the back of the net twice more over the next three minutes to grab a 3-0 advantage. The Golden Eagles added a fourth goal only minutes later to hold a 4-0 advantage at the half.

Tennessee Tech kept the pressure on in the second half scoring three goals in the first 15 minutes of the frame to secure the final victory margin. Michelle Decker capped the TTU scoring in the 60th minute as the ASU defense kept the Eagles out of the goal for the remainder of play.

Monique Sylvester paced the ASU attack tallying four shots including a pair of blasts on goal that forced solid stops by the TTU goalkeeper. Chelsea Nash, making her first appearance between the pipes this season for ASU, notched nine saves while Veronique Lamontagne finished with five saves for the Lady Hornets.

TTU’s Andrea Meloff scored a pair of goals to lead the Golden Eagles with Kris Cambron adding a goal and an assist.

Alabama State next returns to action Sunday afternoon at Troy University at 1 p.m.