Lady Hornets get back at Mount, take over second place along with Russellville’s help
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).
By Aaron Shuttleworth
Photos by Kevin Nagle
The game against the Mount Saint Mary Belles had a lot riding on it. With the Bryant Lady Hornets coming into the game[more] tied for second in 7A/6A-Central conference play, they needed a win to put themselves in position to be up there alone.
And, thanks to Russellville’s 2-1 win over Little Rock Central, that’s just what the Lady Hornets accomplished with their 2-0 win over the Belles.
The victory, which also avenged a 2-0 loss to Mount earlier in the season, improved the Lady Hornets to 14-7 overall and 7-3 in league play going into a busy week. They play at Van Buren in a make-up game on Monday then travel to Conway to play the first-place Lady Wampus Cats on Tuesday. On Thursday, they’ll celebrate Senior Night against Cabot before wrapping up the regular-season at North Little Rock on Monday, May 9.
If Bryant can maintain their second place position, it’ll mean a first-round bye at the Class 7A State Tournament in Cabot starting May 13.
The Lady Hornets started out strong on Friday and were attacking the goal in the very early part of the first half. At 37:01, London Abernathy had a free kick that went 50 yards to a pressuring Tarra Hendricks. Hendricks shot again at 34:38 but it went just wide left.
On the other side at 31:45, keeper Kaitlyn Miller had a nice sliding save keeping the game 0-0. Abernathy had a save in the box right after that at 24:18.
Bailey Gartrell shot at 22:25 but it went wide to the left. At 12:23 Hendricks had a corner kick. Her kick curved and went in the right lower section of the goal. The AR had to call it because it seemed like no one else saw that it went past the line. That goal put the score at 1-0.
At 10:02, a header off a free kick almost went in but was stopped by the Belle keeper. The Belles had a free kick 25 yards away but it was stopped by the front wall of Lady Hornets.
At the start of the second half, Kristin Cartwright had a great save inside the goal box to keep the score 1-0. At 32:36, Hendricks chased down the ball, faked out the Belle defender on a ankle-breaker of a move and shot but it went just over the top rail.
Lyndsay Brazil had a nice block in front of the goal at 23:07 of the second half. She and Abernathy, McKenzie Adams and Lauren Reed were there when the Belles put on the pressure. Having a good backline and able to the pressure off of Miller is why the Lady Hornets have been able to stand up to any competitor that comes their way, as indicated by this, the 14th time this season they’ve shut out an opponent during regulation. Miller ended the night with five saves.
At 20:55, Erica Selig sent a hard shot with her left foot from 25 yards away into the back of the goal to make it 2-0.
At 17:17, Adams had an open shot but it went just high over the top rail. Hendricks sent a crossing shot to Taylor Bryant in the box but it went just to the right.
Selig went down hard on the Bryant sideline with 3:49 left to play. The medical staff was looking at the bridge of her left foot. It looked like she and a Belle player went for the same ball and just kicked each other.
In the final minute of the game, the Belles tried to get a point on the board but Lauren Reed was able to clear it out down the field as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
