CONWAY — The Bryant Hornets soccer team had hoped to avoid pinning all their post-season hopes on next Tuesday’s match at home against the Van Buren Pointers. But that’s how it turned out after the 7A/6A-Central Conference leading Conway Wampus Cats broke up a close match with two late goals to extract a 5-2 win over the Hornets on Friday night.
Bryant and Van Buren have played twice this season. The first meeting, in the Fort Smith Tournament on March 7, ended in a 2-2 tie. In their first conference meeting, Bryant prevailed at Van Buren, 3-0.
“Tuesday is a must win for us to get into the State tournament,” acknowledged Hornets coach Jason Hay. “I have faith that we will be all in.”
On Friday, Bryant got down 3-0 by halftime but battled back to get it to 3-2 with under 10 minutes to go.
Jack Buck got the first goal on a free kick then freshman Luke Welch found the range for his first varsity goal.
“At the end of the game, we gave up two because we pushed up trying to even it up,” Hay noted.
