Hornets soccer team earns first win in dramatic finish
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).
The Bryant Hornets soccer team captured their first victory of the season, a 1-0 win with a dramatic finish against the Little Rock Parkview Patriots on Thursday, March 16.
The win came on the heels of a loss at Russellville that was marked by a bit of a breakout offensively for the Hornets. Coming into the contest, Bryant had scored just one goal in its first three contests but got three against Russellville before losing 7-3.
Junior Gueorgui Tchamkoriyski scored the lone goal of the game against Parkview in the first half.
“It was about 15 minutes in,” noted head coach Kenny Horn. “I know we had at least 15 shots on the goal and I know six of them were good clean shots but they’d go off the poles or we’d just miss wide or something.”
The Hornets held the lead, however, until about a minute was left in the game.
“I was there and I didn’t believe it,” Horn quipped. “Somehow, we were on offense and they got the ball. I think one of their wings just outran one of our kids all the way down into the corner. The center got back and the ball went out of bounds in their favor.
“They got the ball in,” he continued. “They worked it into the center and shot.”
Bryant keeper Tony Bardello knocked down the shot with a diving effort.
“On the rebound, we fouled inside the box,” Horn said. “They got a penalty kick with a minute left. But the guy just flat missed. He missed the entire goal.
“We took it and got a pretty good kick but one of their kids got an exceptional header to send it back the other way. Our defenders had pressed up a little bit because the ball was so long and it went right by our first three defenders. All we had left was our back defenders. Somehow or another, he stomped it out, we all got back in the middle and there was just a mad scrum right there in the center in front of the goal for about five or six seconds and somehow we held on to win.
“The kids were actually a little disappointed with how they played and that’s a good thing,” Horn said. “They’ve got a little proud about themselves and that’s good. They’ll compete. They’re intense and that’s all you can ask for, really.”
Of the improved offense, Horn said, “I moved Toby (Harms) from wing to forward. He’s a real long kid. He’s just not real fast. At forward, he doesn’t have to cover as much ground. I moved Gueorgui up to the forward to give our midfielders a little more of an option. I think that helped a lot against Parkview. That way our midfielders, (Cary) Ball, (Lucas) Nossaman and Gueorgui, they can all rotate there in the center. That way they can get themselves kind of a blow and get back on defense. I also moved one of my defenders on the wing and that might’ve helped.”
Horn added that Bardello “probably had seven saves.
“And he had a couple that were spectacular,” he added. “He’s played exceptionally well. I know it looks bad against Russellville, but they probably had 20 shots on the goal. He saved a ton of them.”
At Russellville, Toby Harms scored twice and Lucas Nossaman added a goal.
The Cyclones scored first, about eight minutes into the game. Bryant answered a couple of minutes later then, at about the 10 minute mark, the Hornets took the lead on Harms’ second goal.
“On our first goal, Lucas got the assist,” Horn said. “He corner kicked it and Toby got a header in. The second time, Lucas took a shot and the goalie came out and blocked it. It rebounded to Toby who was right there to knock it in.”
Before the half, however, Russellville scored twice more to take a 3-2 lead.
In the second half, the Cyclones added two more goals early before the Hornets got on the board again.
“Lucas got a rebound off his own shot,” Horn recounted. “That made it 5-3. With about nine minutes left, Russellville got a couple of lucky bounces and scored two goals in about 35 seconds.
“The kids played hard, competed well and had a lead,” Horn said. “We’re getting better and the offense is coming around. The team is so young, they just haven’t played a whole lot. But they’re getting a good feel for each other as well as what we’re trying to do.”
