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Lady Hornets need PKs to secure win over Belles
LITTLE ROCK — Bryant Lady Hornets soccer coach Julie Long was glad she had her team working on penalty kicks on Monday. It paid off on Tuesday.
Their 7A/6A-Central Conference match against the Mount St. Mary Academy Belles at Catholic High School field wound up coming down to PKs in a shootout
Caroline Campbell, Hadley Dickinson, Anna Lowery and Kendall Selig were good on successful penalty kicks to win the shootout 4-1. Mount St. Mary answered Campbell’s shot but, after Dickinson got hers to go, Bryant goalkeeper Maddie Hawkins made a save. Lowery scored and, after a miss by the Belles, Selig punched home the clincher.
“Our PKs looked really good,” Long admitted, adding quickly, “I wish it would never get to that point though.”
The match was scoreless until the half. Both teams scored in the second half with Campbell finding the range off a feed from Allison Hughes at the 4:14 mark.
“Mount played us hard,” Long said. “They never quit. They worked hard the whole time. Then we just had one breakdown defensively and they capitalized on it, which is what good teams are going to do.
“It was a good character-building game for us,” she commented. “It kind of looked like we came off of spring break.
“Really we just couldn’t finish,” the coach mentioned. “We created some good opportunities but we just couldn’t finish. And I felt like we didn’t shoot as much as we should’ve.”
Bryant attempted 11 shots in the match, just four in the first half.
The win improved the Lady Hornets to 10-1 on the season, 2-0 in conference play and 1-0 against 7A teams in the league. Only 7A conference matches will count for Bryant in its bid to return to the Class 7A State Tournament, which they will host May 14-16.
Another 7A rival will be the Lady Hornets’ next opponent. They’ll host Conway on Tuesday, April 7.
