Soccer teams bounce back from rugged night at NLR, thump Hall
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 weather on Tuesday, March 15, wasn’t much good for anything outside, but the Bryant and North Little Rock soccer teams were, nonetheless, on the field in vital AAAAA-Central Conference battles hosted by the Charging Wildcats.
“The weather made it miserable,” stated Hornets head coach Terry Aycock. “We had a hard-fought game on a very cold and windy night.”
“It was a game we were really looking forward to,” said Lady Hornets coach Doug Maxwell. “But the weather really turned bad.”
The Hornets managed to gain a tie with the Wildcats but the Lady Hornets suffered a loss that was about as bitterly felt as the frigid winds, 1-0.
Both Bryant teams bounced back on Friday, March 18, to win at Little Rock Hall. The Hornets rolled to a 7-0 win while the Lady Hornets took out some of their frustration with a 12-0 romp.
The boys thus entered spring break with an 8-1-2 overall mark, 2-1-2 in conference play. The girls are 5-6 and 2-3. The Lady Hornets were set to return to action on Monday, March 28, at home against Sheridan, while the boys enjoyed a longer break. They’re next outing is the conference match-up with Little Rock Catholic on April 5. The Lady Hornets will take on Mount St. Mary’s that night.
On April 7, both Bryant teams get a re-match with North Little Rock at home.
In the boys game on Tuesday, North Little Rock scored on a corner kick in the first half and held a 1-0 lead at the break. But Bryant tied it on a goal by Blake Taylor in the second half.
Of the girls game, Maxwell said, “It was a pretty solid defensive game for us. Offensively, we really struggled trying to get anything put together. I’m sure part of that was the cold, part of it was that we were playing the late game that night. We always play the early game but this time it needed to be switched. And I’m sure that messed with the girls’ psyche but North Little Rock has an outstanding team.
“We battled back and forth,” he noted. “We played a lot in the middle of the field with neither team able to get any advantages. They got a penalty kick from about 25, 26 yards out about the 32nd or 33rd minute. From the left side of the field, their player got the ball up in the air with the wind blowing across and it just carried it into the upper back corner of the goal. Our keeper was just kind of drifting and the ball just never dropped on her.
“Maddie Spring, our keeper, had an outstanding game,” Maxwell noted. “She had 12 saves including one off of a penalty kick.
“Unfortunately, we just weren’t able to convert on offense. We had a couple of opportunities that just went a little wide and they’ve got a very good keeper, well-disciplined, stayed inside the box.
“You hate to come away with a loss, but we played well there,” concluded the coach.
At Hall on Friday, the Hornets built a 5-0 lead by halftime on goals by Travis Cockerham, Michael Brandt and Marcus Shell. Blake Taylor had two.
In the second half, Lucas Nossaman scored and Cockerham knocked in his second goal of the game.
In the girls game, the Lady Hornets built a 9-0 lead by halftime even though the teams agreed to play 30 minute halves instead of 40.
Alden Manning scored the first goal about five minutes into the game. Thirty seconds later, Lindsey Phillips added a goal.
“That really pretty much started it all,” Maxwell acknowledged.
Phillips wound up with two goals and an assist. Mandi Howell added two goals and two assists, Megan Marlow one goal and one assist, Courtney Hinton had a goal and two assists, Ashley Moscow two goals, Lori Williams had a goal and Rachel Menges contributed an assist.
“Hall’s struggling again this year but they’re a little better than they were last year,” Maxwell mentioned. “They’re a little more controlled than they have been in the past. We got to play everyone.
“Part of that (scoring) was frustration, not being able to find the back of the net on Tuesday night at North Little Rock,” he allowed. “The kids were really frustrated about that going into spring break. But we played real well and everyone got to play.”
