There exists a large body of evidence from experiments and molecular dynamics simulations to suggest the occurrence of phase transitions in soda-lime glass (SLG) and other silica glasses subject to shock compression to pressures above 3 GPa. In light of these findings, the current work investigated the existence of phase transition in SLG using shock and release experiments. The experiments employed symmetric SLG-SLG impact to achieve complete unloading to zero stress after shock compression to stresses in the range of 3-7 GPa. The stress-strain response and the Lagrangian release wave speed behavior of SLG obtained from these experiments are seen to reveal a mismatch between the loading and unloading paths of the pressure-strain curve for the material, which serves as compelling evidence for the occurrence of a shock-induced phase transition in the material at relatively low pressures. Furthermore, the release wave speed vs strain data obtained from experiments were used to construct a methodology for modeling the shock and release behavior of SLG. This scheme implemented in numerical simulations was able to capture the release behavior of shock compressed SLG, for which a robust and satisfactory model was previously unavailable.