Lady Hornets sew up State soccer bid with first win over Conway
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
The Bryant Lady Hornets clinched a bid to the Class AAAAA State soccer tournament with a 1-0 win over the Conway Lady Wampus Cats on Thursday, April 13.
It was the first time since Bryant joined the AAAAA-Central Conference that a Lady Hornets team had defeated a Conway squad, a first that followed on the heels of the program’s first win at North Little Rock on April 4.
The results left the Lady Hornets 5-5 overall and 2-1 in league play going into a home tilt against Little Rock Central (another team they’ve never beaten) on Tuesday, April 18, where a win or a tie (coupled with a victory at Little Rock Parkview on Thursday, April 20) could allow them to finish as high as second in the league.
Going into the Conway game, the Lady Cats and Central were tied for second with Bryant fourth.
“History was kind of stacked against us,” allowed Lady Hornets head coach Doug Maxwell, who noted that his team was still missing a few starters including Maddie Spring, Brittany Starrett and Maggie Griffith. “We had to alter our lineup a little bit. We went with a little bit more defensive group.
“We pretty much played the ball in the middle of the field, looking for an opportunity,” he said. “We had a couple of runs, a couple of chances early on but we weren’t able to capitalize. We broke free on a couple of plays but we weren’t able to get a shot off.”
The game was scoreless until there was only about 10 minutes left in the first half.
“Ashley Moscow got open on a breakaway situation and got fouled inside the box,” Maxwell recounted. “Megan Marlow stepped in for the penalty kick and nailed it but it got called back because the (Conway) goal keeper wasn’t on the line. So, she had to kick it again which put a little pressure on. But she nailed the second one. We got one point for two goals.
“We went into halftime with a lot of confidence,” he added. “The girls felt a lot more positive about themselves.
“Ashley Moscow, our only true forward, did a great job of getting some scoring opportunities for us.”
Conway, however, came out aggressive in the second half. “We shut down three real quick scoring opportunities they had right off the bat,” Maxwell said. “They were gambling a lot. They were able to penetrate with a few runs but our defense stepped up and took care of them. We played solid defense the rest of the game. Abby Benning had a couple of nice stops in breakaway situations and Brittany Wildhaber did a good job as our keeper. (Conway) got off 13 shots and she didn’t let anything past her.”
Maxwell was encouraged because Conway and Central had battled to scoreless ties in both of their games this season.
“We feel pretty good,” he said. “We should have Brittany Starrett and Maddie Spring back.”
