The injury bug continued to hit the Bryant Hornets soccer team hard last week and, as a result, head coach Rick Friday said, “In essence, (it) left us playing with our starting JV team.”
Starting the second round of the 6A-Central Conference round-robin schedule, the Hornets took on the Fort Smith Northside Grizzlies, who defeated them 3-0 in the first go-round. This time, the Grizzlies came to Hornet Stadium and, against the Bryant youngsters, came away with a 6-0 win.
Northside is 10-1-3 on the season, 7-0-3 in conference play to lead the league.
“It’s been a perfect storm this season,” said Friday. “We picked up another injury to a starter Wednesday night (in a 3-2 win at North Little Rock).
“It’s a great learning experience for these young kids,” he added, “but we struggled physically. We gave up four goals off of set pieces. A kid who is 5’6” will always struggle to mark a player 6’0”.
“I have no problem with the kids,” the coach asserted. “They worked their socks off and are learning from this season. They will be stronger for it and it will show up in the future.”
Now 3-6-3 overall this season, the Hornets are 3-5 in conference going into a match at Little Rock Catholic on Tuesday, April 20.
