The Bryant Hornets continued to battle the best teams in the 6A-Central Conference, just coming up short. For the second time in a week, the Hornets played a team at the top of the league and lost by one goal. On Thursday, that was Little Rock Central, a one-loss team in the conference by a score of 1-0. Last week, it was one-loss Conway by a score of 2-1.
Still in position to make the 6A State Tournament, the Hornets, now 3-8-3 overall and 3-7 in league play, will wrap up with matches against Little Rock Southwest on Monday, then Cabot on April 30, Conway on May 3, and North Little Rock on May 5.
The crucial contest will be that last one as North Little Rock is on the heels of the Hornets for the sixth seed to State.
The question for the Hornets will be, will they get healthy or how will the young players getting the playing time now make the necessary improvement in time?
Regarding Thursday’s game, Bryant head coach Rick Friday said, “It was a back-and-forth game. It was one mistake that cost us. A ball bounced off the ground and hit a player’s hand in the box.
“Then, later on, we went down to 10 men when George Terry got a red card for taking down a player on a breakaway,” he continued. “Even when we went down to 10, the boys worked hard and had a couple of opportunities to tie the game.
“It seems like these little errors keep occurring every game,” the coach noted. “As the players mature and get more experience, they will occur less frequently.”
