By Aaron Shuttleworth
The Bryant Hornets team that played in the first half was not the same team that came back to play the second half in their 7A-Central Conference match with Little Rock Catholic Tuesday night at Bryant Stadium.
In the first 40 minuets of the game, the Rockets had a hard time getting the ball past the Hornets. Keeper Devon Norris was perfect with five saves. He finished the game off with eight total. Midfielders Ben Stukenborg and Forrest Fowler and defender Reed Evans were there to take off some of the pressure against Norris when the Rockets were able to make a break for it.
But 4:28 into the second half, the defense broke apart and lost their assignments. A Rocket player shot through and made it into the bottom left corner of the goal. Then, 6:11 later, the Rockets put another point on the board. The last goal of the night came with :20 left in the game as Catholic came away with a 3-0 win.[more]
"We played one good half, and the second half I don't think we played very hard," Coach Jason Hay had to say. “If we don't want to be the doormat of the 7A-Central, we have to start winning games."
Even though the Hornets did not score, there were still some highlights to the night. Jonathon Lowery showed good ball handling skills while going in and out of traffic. All night, the Hornets were able to get pressure against the Rockets’ keeper. Stukenborg along with Jesse Wolf and Jose Vazquez were causing trouble for the Rockets midfield and defenders throughout the whole night. Kyle Nossamon and Carlos Garcia were working together as a combo getting into shooting range. There were a total of 10 shots taken against the Rockets.
On Thursday night, there will be a rematch between the Hornets and Van Buren. The two teams met Friday night as the Hornets came away with a victory over their conference competitor (though it did not count towards conference record).
"We better be ready because they will be looking for revenge,” Hay said. “If we play like we did tonight we are not going to win. We're going to be looking at some tape and maybe makes some moves."
Despite their first conference loss, the team cannot dwell on it, but overcome and pursue getting into the playoffs.
