Lady Hornets impressive in non-conference matches
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With her team competing in a league with all Class 6A schools, the Bryant Lady Hornets head soccer coach Julie Long tries to schedule non-conference contests against Class 7A schools when she can. The matches provide her team a chance to see what it might be facing in the 7A State tourney. The squad got two opportunities to do just that this week and came away with couple of impressive wins.
On Monday, the Lady Hornets forged a soggy victory over a tough Little Rock Central team, 4-0. On Tuesday, they pinned a 6-0 loss on the Mount St. Mary Belles, a team that tops the standings in the 7A/6A-Central Conference. Bryant remains unbeaten on the season at 13-0-2. They’re set to take on another 7A foe this Thursday at Cabot before returning to South Conference action against Sheridan on Tuesday, April 29.
The Lady Hornets’ ties, which came early in the season at a tournament in Bentonville, were to Mount St. Mary and Bentonville (among the league leaders in the 7A/6A-West).
Despite that, Long said her team came out a little flat on Tuesday against the Belles.
“For the first 10 minutes,” she related. “But after that, I felt we played probably the best soccer we have all year. The girls worked hard and kept the intensity the whole game. They found ways to capitalize on the opportunities they were given. Overall I was very pleased with how the girls played.
“I have to give a lot of credit tonight to our back line and our keeper,” the coach continued. “They seriously played the best I have seen them played all year and earned a much-deserved shutout.”
The Lady Hornets’ back line includes Britney Sahlmann, Tori Rose and Callie Schalk.
Kara Taylor put the first goal on the board off a cross by Rori Whittaker. That came in the first two minutes of action.
The Lady Hornets were awarded a free kick outside the box about 12 minutes in and Anna Lowery found the mark to make it 2-0. There was another free kick about halfway through the first half and, this time, Tori Rose rifled a shot past the keeper from about 25 yards out, making it 3-0 at the half.
“The girls took care of the ball on both ends,” Long noted. “Second half, they played even better and with more composure.”
Lowery scored off a feed from Rose within the first two minutes. She made it a hat trick off an assist from Caroline Campbell in the 13th minute of the second half.
“The final goal was off a corner taken from Tori that was headed by Rori and then finished off in the back of the net by Jacie McMahan,” Long recounted.
“The girls know they have high expectations for the season,” she stated. “This was a great win but it only gets us one day closer to our goals. This group never ceases to amaze me with their dedication and hard work. I know tomorrow is a new day and they will come out ready to focus and get better. We always are finding ways to improve and, as a coach I’m never happy, but try to take the small mistakes and make them better so they don’t happen next game.”
Against Central, it was Campbell who had the hat trick with Lowery contributing the fourth goal and an assist.
It was a wet game, but the girls stepped up and rose to the occasion,” Long said. “They played hard and capitalized on the chances they were given.”
Campbell scored both of the first-half goals with Lowery providing the assist on the first one about nine minutes in. With just over nine left in the first half, she took a feed from Allison Hughes for the second goal.
“Central may have been one of the better tams we have faced all year,” Long mentioned. “They challenged us defensively a lot. They had a lot of speed and were able to get eight shots off on us. It was good for our defense to face some challenges.
“Defensively, we had a good game,” she noted. “We still have a lot that we need to work on and we will continue to work on it this week in our non conference games.”
Bryant keeper Maddie Hawkins had saves on all eight shots by the Lady Tigers.
In the second half, Campbell assisted on Lowery’s goal at 14:33 then capped off the scoring just over four minutes later with her third goal, this time off a feed from McMahan.
“The girls offensively had to change up their game,” Long said. “Some of the balls they are normally able to get to they weren’t, due to the ground being wet, so it was good for them to face some challenges and to see how they reacted. Overall, I was pleased with their efforts, but feel they still have some work to do.”
