LITTLE ROCK — A first-round bye in the Class 7A State soccer tournament wound up coming down to a[more] coin flip today between the Bryant Lady Hornets and the Mount St. Mary Belles. The two teams wound up in a tie for second place in the league and none of the other tiebreakers snapped the deadlock so the coin toss was held today with Mount St. Mary winning.
With that, the Belles will be two wins away from playing in the State finals. Bryant will need to win three times to get there. The Lady Hornets will start that process on Friday at 3 p.m., against Rogers Heritage, the sixth seeded team from the 7A-West Conference. The girls tourney is being played at Cabot. Mount St. Mary will not play until Saturday when it opens against the winner of Friday’s match between Fayetteville and either North Little Rock or Little Rock Hall.
The Lady Hornets had a chance to secure the second spot and the bye on Monday in their final regular-season game at North Little Rock but absorbed a 3-1 loss. Head coach Julie Long also pointed back to a 2-0 loss to Mount on March 29 that she thought her team should’ve won as a missed opportunity.
If Bryant wins on Friday, it will play Fort Smith Southside, the 2 seed from the West, on Saturday at noon for a chance to reach the State semifinals where they could get another shot at the rival Conway Lady Cats.
Bryant’s boys are also a number three seed. They’ll open State play at Cabot against Heritage as well on Friday at 3 p.m.
