Soccer teams collect victories
EDITOR’S NOTE: Because the look back at each day in Bryant athletic history has been so favorably received during the time when there was no sports during the COVID-19 shutdown, BryantDaily.com will continue 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).
Both Bryant High School soccer teams picked up wins at Greenbrier on Thursday, March 10. The Lady Hornets prevailed 3-1 to improve to 5-4 on the season while the Hornets improved to 7-1-1 overall with a 4-0 victory.
The two teams were scheduled for a showdown at North Little Rock on Tuesday, March 15.
In Thursday’s boys game, the Hornets took a 2-0 lead in the first half, though head coach Terry Aycock still called it, “a slow first half.
“Everything went okay,” he added. “But lack of effort kept us from scoring a couple more.”
Gueorgui Tchamkoriyski scored the Hornets’ first goal about half way into the first half. Blake Taylor scored the second goal soon there after to make the halftime score 2-0.
“We played a lot better in the second half,” Aycock noted. “We spent the biggest portion of the half with the ball in their end of the field and managed to get off a bunch of shots. The only problem is that only two went in.”
Blake Taylor scored one of the goals for the Hornets, Travis Cockerham scored the other.
The Lady Hornets meanwhile had Greenbrier shut out until late in the game and led 3-0 on goals by Laura Mackey (two) and Lindsey Phillips.
“Greenbrier is a State Tournament team,” Maxwell said. “There’s always a strong team there, good balance. It’s a good program.
“But there was really not any question (about the outcome),” he added. “It was a really strong performance. The offense is really starting to come together. It really started happening at the end of our second game at Searcy’s Tournament. It was something we were really missing early in the season.
“We’ve got a strong 1-2 punch up front,” Maxwell explained. “We put Laura Mackey up there. She’d been playing back on the defense for us. But she kind of sparked us. She and Lindsey Phillips are working real well up top. I think Laura had three others that were called back and she had three or four called back at Searcy. She’s a good complement, someone to take a little pressure off Lindsey because she’s a strong, dominant offensive player but they were double-teaming, triple-teaming her.
“At midfield, Paige Breech is really starting to work her way back in,” he continued. “She and Morgan Hart and Sarah Bunten are doing a good job of controlling the middle of the field for us.
“We’ve added Bridgette McPeak since basketball ended and she’s going to help us out definitely on the wings. Ashley Moscow who was playing up top for us at the beginning of the season has moved back to sweeper and that gives us a lot more speed back there, and a little bit stronger boot.
“Our defense has been playing solid all year,” said the coach. “I just wanted something on the offensive end to kind of give us a spark and take a little pressure off. The defense can only hold so long, especially in this game with this wide of a field.
“Maddie Spring is playing in the goal for us. She worked a little bit for us there last year. We lost a good one in Michelle Dinsmore but Maddie’s done a good job stepping up. She’s getting more and more confidence as the year goes along.”
At the Searcy Tournament on March 5, the Lady Hornets won just one of three games but Maxwell got some indications that his team was ready to step up.
“It was a good strong tournament, good field,” he said.
The Lady Hornets drew the host team in the first round and absorbed a 3-1 loss. They trailed 1-0 at the half, then tied it about seven minutes into the second half. Searcy came right back to regain the lead and added a late goal to sew it up.
“We were a little sluggish early in the morning but we played pretty good against a strong team,” Maxwell commented. “They’re picked to contend for State this year, so I was pleased with playing a good, strong AAAAA team like that early on.”
In the second round, the Lady Hornets pinned a 1-0 loss on Fort Smith Southside.
“We played a lot better, a lot stronger,” Maxwell said. “We kind of dominated and controlled the game. We had a couple of goals called back but I was pretty pleased. We played really well.”
In the consolation finals, Bryant defeated Hot Springs Lakeside
The Lady Hornets trailed 1-0 at the half but rallied to take a 2-1 lead. Lakeside tied it at 2 and, with about three minutes left in the game, the Lady Rams scored again to earn the victory.
“I think we had five goals called back in the second half for one reason or the other,” Maxwell recalled. “That was really kind of frustrating. That showed up there late in the game.
“But I was really pleased with the effort,” he added. “We played really well. I thought it was a good tournament for us.”
