Lowery’s goal in overtime helps Bryant girls survive Rogers’ upset bid
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BENTONVILLE — “It wasn’t pretty but it was a win,” declared Bryant Lady Hornets soccer coach Julie Long after her team escaped with a 1-0 win in overtime over the Rogers Lady Mounties in the quarterfinals of the Class 7A State Tournament Friday.
The top-seeded Bryant team improved to 20-0-2 on the season heading into a match with Little Rock Central in the semifinals Saturday at 2 p.m. As was the case a year ago, the Lady Hornets are a win away from playing for a State title.
Anna Lowery scored the only goal of Friday’s battle with five minutes left in overtime and the Lady Hornets finished their 17th shutout of the season.
“I guess I’ll take it,” deadpanned Long. “Anna’s goal was pretty much unassisted. She took on a player on the outside. She’d just had enough of it, dribbled by her and scored.”
It was just the fourth time this season that the Lady Hornets had not scored at least two goals in a match.
“Honestly, I think we came out nervous,” Long related. “We came out a little confident too I think. We’d watched (Rogers) play the night before.”
In Thursday’s first-round match, the Lady Mounties had eked out a 2-0 win over a North Little Rock team that Bryant had handled easily, 6-1, back on April 10.
“We were just wound tight,” the coach continued. “Our touch wasn’t there the way it normally is. We just couldn’t ever get our game going the way that we normally play. We just couldn’t seem to get it together.
“But we found a way,” she asserted.
The match was played mostly on Bryant’s end of the field. Rogers managed just three shots on goal to the Lady Hornets’ 18 shot attempts.
“Sometimes you hate getting the bye because you don’t have that first game to shake the nerves but, at the same time, it’s nice to have the fresh legs,” Long mentioned.
It was a lesson too in not taking anything for granted in lieu of the North Little Rock results. And that should be a heads up for Saturday since the Lady Hornets defeated Central 4-0 on April 21. Different time; different circumstances.
“We’re going to have to play better than we did today, that’s for sure,” Long emphasized.
