Pause in rains give Bryant chance to sweep Valley View
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Taking advantage of a lull in the deluge, the Bryant High School soccer teams took on their respective counterparts from Valley View on Thursday night at Bryant High School Field. The Lady Hornets rolled to a 4-0 lead by halftime and reserves made that score hold up for the victory. The Hornets led 2-0 at the half, added two goals in the second half then Valley View scored twice in the last few minutes of the match as Coach Jason Hay got some varsity playing time for his reserves as well.
The Bryant girls improved to 5-0 on the season with shutouts in every outing so far. The boys improved to 4-1 with their third win in succession.
Both teams are scheduled to play in a tournament hosted by Little Rock Christian this Saturday then open up 7A/6A-Central Conference play at Class 6A Siloam Springs on Thursday. Saturday, the Lady Hornets play Hot Springs Lakeside at noon with the Hornets and the Rams following at 1:30. Along with Little Rock Christian’s teams, the North Little Rock girls and the Little Rock Central boys will compete in the tourney. Winners of first-round girls games will play at 6 p.m., with losers at 3 p.m. Winners of the boys matches advance to finals at 7:30 p.m. Consolation for the boys will be at 4:30.
In the Lady Hornets’ win on Thursday night, Anna Lowery had two goals and Kara Moser one, all on headers from corner kicks by Kendall Selig. Lowery also had an assist on a goal by Caroline Campbell.
For the Hornets, Martin Ramierez had both second-half goals. He also assisted on one of the first-half scores.
Ricky Barrientos opened the scoring at the 24:20 mark of the first half, off an assist from Andy Doonan. It stayed 1-0 until the closing moments of the half. At the 2:30 mark, Ramierez fed Jhoman Cruz who found the back of the net to set the halftime tally.
Ramierez’ first goal came off a feed from Krishna Gurung, less than eight minutes into the second half. Less than six minutes passed before Ramierez found the mark again with Barrientos getting the assist.
Valley View broke up the shutout with a penalty kick with under four minutes left in the match. The other goal came in the final seconds.
“Defensive and keeper play in the first half was not very good,” stated Hay. “I think out mids and forwards played decent in the first half. In the second half, we put it all together and finished them off quickly.”
