By Dylan Vazzano, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
TROY, Ala. – The Tennessee Tech soccer team concluded its brief two-game road swing Sunday afternoon, wrapping up the 2014 Trojan Classic with a 3-0 loss to the host Troy University.
A season high 20 Golden Eagles (0-3-0) saw action in the affair, including sophomore goalkeeper Allison Barlow who stopped the only shot that came her way in nearly 22 minutes on the pitch, a Kailani Decock rip in the 72nd minute.
Barlow joined freshmen McKenzie McCloud and Michaella Keyes as the trio of Tech players that made their season debuts.
"First off congratulations are in order for Troy, they are a well coached team and won both matches of their own tournament," TTU head coach Steve Springthorpe said moments after the 90th minute. "In regards to us, I thought we looked very sharp for the first 30 minutes and accomplished some of our goals. While we didn't have a lot of goal scoring opportunities, we did have some chances in the box, were aggressive, and did some good things defensively."
TTU yielded a pair of Trojan (3-2-0) scores in the first half, with juniors Alissa Jones and Jasmine Fahrnbauer doing the honors to give Troy a 2-0 half-time advantage. Jones found the back of the net for the fourth time this season, scoring on a feed from senior Georgia Wallis in the 20th minute to christen the scoring. Fahrnbauer split the pipes in the 33rd minute, heading in a pass from junior Louise Cheng for the Canton, Ga. native's first goal of the season.
Troy capped of its scoring in the 63rd minute, earning a goal off of a counterattack from freshman Natalie Melillo, with the assist credited to Alissa Jones to wrap up a three-point showing for Jones.
"We have been better in some areas and that's been a key for us," Springthorpe remarked. "Every time we play we focus on getting better in certain aspects of the game and are learning to do that. We play very well in spurts, but still need to work on sustaining it for longer periods of time."
Tech senior goalkeeper Rebecca Toler made five stops in her third start of the year, while a quartet of Troy keepers kept the Golden Eagles off the board to notch the club's third consecutive shutout victory after an 0-2 start to begin the season.
Tennessee Tech will return home for two straight, welcoming in Georgia State on Sep. 5 at 4 p.m. CT, and Western Carolina on Sep. 7 at 1 p.m. Admission to all Golden Eagle home regular season games is free.
