COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Allen University women's soccer team opened their season at home on Friday afternoon and played a very competitive match before falling 4-0 to Bluefield State University from the Southeastern Freight Lines Soccer Complex.

Bluefield broke through first scoring in the 11th minute of action that deflected off the leaping hands of sophomore keeper Kaiyah Robinson as she just missed making a terrific save. Allen would then come right back on the next play as midfielder Alexia Velasquez passed a great cross to a charging forward, Acacia Small who fired it into the back of the net after "juking" a defender. However, she was called to be slightly offside, unfortunately, and the goal did not stand. 

BSU, coming off a 7-7 season a year ago, then tallied their second goal of the first half in the 24th minute to go up 2-0 on a shot from deep outside the box past a diving keeper in Robinson. Allen stayed toe-to-toe with the Big Blue in the first half going into the break trailing just 6-5 in shots. 

Early in the second half, BSU struck again scoring in the 54th minute tipping it just past the goalie on a corner kick. Bluefield then added their final goal on a lucky play off a corner kick as the ball barely crossed the line in the air even as an Allen defender jumped in the goal and tried to save it swatting out of mid-air.

Allen had two players attempt two shots apiece in Acacia Small and Velasquez while freshmen midfielders Vivien Karrasch, Gabriell Murphy and sophomore forward Rachel Rolle all attempted shots on goal.

Robinson collected four saves as the goalkeeper on the day while sophomore Jaden Key also made 2 saves while the only goal she allowed came on the fluky corner kick play. 

"I would like to recognize the work these young ladies have put in to change the culture in the program," said head coach Machi Provost. "Over the past year we have improved tremendously within just two games this year," Provost continued. "We are starting to understand our defensive principles and once we fully grasp our team principles and attacking strategies, we will become an extremely competitive team."

Up Next
The Yellow Jackets will next travel down to Florida to face SIAC foe Edward Waters University on Tuesday, September 5^, with kickoff at 4 p.m.