Defense continues to dominate as Bryant blanks Belles
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).
LITTLE ROCK — After scoring the 100th goal of her career a week earlier against Russellville, junior Caroline Campbell got a good start on her second 100 on Friday night with a hat trick to spark the Bryant Lady Hornets to a 5-0 win over the Mount St. Mary Academy Belles at Catholic High School.
The Lady Hornets have now swept the three other Class 7A members of the 7A/6A-Central Conference and all six of their league games overall. They’re 14-0-1 overall and the shutout was their 13th of the season. They’ve surrendered just two goals all year, one in a 2-1 win over Little Rock Christian on March 12 and the other in a 1-1 tie against Fayetteville on Saturday, April 16, in Russellville.
The Belles came into the match with just one league loss (in a shootout against Conway). They fall to 11-4-1 overall.
“I thought our defense did well holding them off and making sure we controlled the game,” said Lady Hornets coach Julie Long.
Mount managed just three shots on goal.
Along with Campbell’s three goals, Kendall Selig had two goals in the victory. Bryant was efficient with five goals on 13 attempts.
“The girls came out and played hard,” Long said. “Keeping intensity up for a full game has been a focus lately and I felt like they did it so I was pleased with that.”
Selig broke the ice with a goal off an assist from Britney Sahlmann with 29:34 left in the first half. It stayed 1-0 until, with 3:17 to go until the break, Campbell followed up a miss and knocked it in.
Just over six minutes into the second half, Campbell bent one in on a corner then quickly added her third goal off an assist from Selig at the 31:38 mark.
Selig capped off the scoring on a free kick with 22:59 left.
It’s a busy week ahead for the Lady Hornets who travel to Cabot on Monday then host Pulaski Academy on Tuesday before returning to conference with a showdown at home against rival Conway on Friday.
“We have some big games coming up next week that will be good test for us,” Long said.
