Soccer team to play in SWAC Championship Tournament

JSU Athletics Media

The Jackson State Lady Tiger’s soccer team traveled to Houston, Texas to participate in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Tournament on Wednesday, Nov 5.

This will be the third consecutive appearance that the Lady Tiger’s have made in the SWAC Tournament. Last year, they advanced to the finals and lost the championship to the Mississippi Valley State Lady Devils in a 0-2 shutout.

The Lady Tigers are 7-9-2 in the regular season and 2-1-1 in the SWAC Eastern Division making them 2nd in the conference. The Lady Tigers were able to go undefeated in the last five games of the season in which one of those games ended in a tie against conference foe MVSU.

Offensively there is no true leader for the Lady Tigers. Many of the young women have stepped up to the plate and made the plays when needed. Statistically, Elexis Rice, freshman forward, is leading the pack with 5 goals, 1 game winning goal, and 3 assist for 13 points. Jalana Ellis, freshman midfielder, is following close behind with 5 goals, 3 game winning goals, and 1 assist for a total of 11 points. Rice has played in 15 games and started in 10 and has a total of 26 shots with 18 shots on goal. Ellis has played in 18 games and started in 16. She has 31 shots with 16 shots on goal.
The Lady Tigers are defensively led by Rayana Speight, sophomore defender from Victorville, CA. Speight has played and started in 17 games, has 4 goals with 3 assist for 11 points.

As it stands now, the Lady Tigers will play their first game against Texas Southern at 12:30 p.m. All tournament games will take place at Houston Amateur Sports Park.

The coaches and sports information directors of the SWAC recently selected the top players in women’s soccer for the 2013 season and have named three members of the Jackson State Lady Tigers soccer team to the SWAC Postseason Team. These ladies have made significant contributions to the Jackson State team this season.