By Aaron Shuttleworth
Tuesday night's soccer match between the Bryant Hornets and the Van Buren Pointers was the third this year. The first came at the Northwest Arkansas Invitational in Bentonville. The Hornets came out with a victory. Six days later, they met again in Van Buren. The Hornets again came away with a victory.
The same can be said for Tuesday’s match.
The game was evenly played on both side of the ball. Both the offense and defense had to step up their game.[more]
At 32:07 in the first, keeper Devon Norris was tracking down a ball. He was able to get to it but lost it in a scuffle. With a wide-open goal, a Pointer was less then five yards from the opening of the net. All that was needed was a small tap for the ball to go in. But lucky for the Hornets, he kicked it wide right. Norris would make sure that would not happen again.
The Hornet keeper ended the night with four saves. Assisting him were the back and middle line. Reed Evans was in the right place at the right time all night. Brandon Parish and Tyler Salminen kept up with the assignments throughout the coarse of the game. At 19:50 in the first, Van Buren had a corner kick that was headed out of the six-yard box by Carlos Garcia.
On the offensive side, the Hornets had a total of 11 shots taken on the Pointers’ goal. Kyle Nossamon was bringing the pressure all night against the Pointer keeper. Sean Sobba and Ben Stukenborg were able to get clear and get off a few shots each. Within the first half, the opportunity to take a shot outweighed the actual shots taken.
In the second half, a wave of shots came. At 32:58, Sobba had a free kick that went right above the top rail. At 30:30, Stukenborg broke free and had a wide open shot that drilled the keeper in the chest. That shot knocked the wind out of me, so no telling how the keeper felt.
At 29:41, a goal was taken away for an offensive penalty on a corner kick.
After that it was all back and forth. With 6:31 left in the game, Norris had the save of the night as a rocket came in high. He was able to slap it over the top rail.
Then at 4:05 in the game, Sobba took one of the best shots this season. Sitting 40 yards out, he was able to get by the keeper and into the back of the net.
"We played a great game tonight,” said Hornets coach Jason Hay. “Sean did really good. He was in a slump the past few games. He took it easy and stayed calm and it finally came to him.
"Now we need to get ready for the game on Thursday,” he added. “It's going to be a tough one. Russellville is a good team."
The last time the Hornets, now 9-6 overall and 6-4 in the 7A-Central Conference, played against the Crimson Cyclones, the Cyclones won 2-3 in a shootout on the Hornet turf.
The Bryant JV also won on Tuesday, improving to 6-1 on the season, with a 4-1 decision. Chase Stuart had two goals with Caleb Lambert and Ryan Watson each adding one. The team will also play on Thursday at Russellville.
