Kennesaw, Ga. – Jacksonville State's women's soccer team dropped a 1-0 decision to Kennesaw State in an exhibition match on the KSU campus Saturday night.

KSU's Alma Gardarsdotlir broke up a scoreless game with a goal in the 85th minute, which proved to be the deciding goal in the exhibition affair in Owls' brand new KSU Soccer Stadium. The new facility seats 8,300 and is home to the Atlanta Beat of the Women's Professional League.

Gamecock head coach Julie Davis Carlson saw some bright spots in the outing and pinpointed what they need to work on in the next week to get ready for the season.

“This is a great building block for us as Kennesaw State is an NCAA Tournament team from a year ago,” said Carlson. “The girls applied the strategy that we have been working on all pre-season and one thing that really stood out was the fitness of our team.”

JSU had a pair of scoring opportunities in the first half, but KSU thwarted the Gamecock threat. The Red and White finished with nine shots, seven on goal. Junior Chelsea Pelletier and sophomore Nathalee Lariviere paced the JSU offense with three shots each. KSU carded 14 shots in the match and controlled the possession most of the second half. Pelletier had a golden opportunity to give Jax State the lead but back-to-back saves by KSU's Melissa Hutto denied the scoring chance.

“We created quality chances against them but we have to finish them,” added Carlson. “Our new comers sparked us in the second half, especially Alison Gonzalez.”

The Gamecocks open their nine match home schedule on Friday, Aug. 20 against Gardner Webb. Match time is set for 6 p.m. at the JSU Soccer Field. JSU will close out the season-opening weekend on Sunday, Aug. 22 versus Georgia State.