by Jason Ybarra
Conway – It was certainly a great start to the 2020 I-40 Highway Governor’s Cup Series.
Central Arkansas scored at the 58:51 mark of the second half as Emma Hawkins took advantage of a generous bounce off the sidebar and booted the rebound past Little Rock’s freshman goalie Saskia Wagner for only goal of the match as the Bears blanked Little Rock on Thursday night at Bill Stephens Soccer Complex.
“It was unexpected, the ball fell to me and I just knocked it in,” Hawkins said about the goal.
“We always wanted to start off on a positive note. We wanted to make sure that we just played well.” UCA head coach Jeremy Bishop said.”Our preparation showed tonight and the win to go with it was huge.”
After a scoreless first half in which both teams had their chances to score, Little Rock’s Mari Young sparked the momentum early with the first shot on goal of the game early in the fourth minute.
Central Arkansas nearly broke the ice at the 26th mark when UCA’s when defender Gracie Hair rifled a shot towards the top left corner that was saved by Wagner.
Young picked up another attempt in the second half, as the sophomore dashed up the field and broke away from the UCA defenders but came up empty as she was turned away by UCA’s Reagan McCombs.
Young sent a first-time shot towards the top right corner but McCombs made an acrobatic diving save to push the ball behind for a corner kick and the score remained 1-0.
“We’re disappointed with the result but the most important thing is that we’re back doing what we love,” said Little Rock head coach Mark Foster. “We started the game really well, creating the first two chances in the game. The game evened out as it went on, and we came out in the second half a little flat, but I was delighted with how we reacted after being down. We knew this game would be hard.”
The Bears (1-0) host the Arkansas State Red Wolves on Sunday, while Little Rock travels to Missouri State Friday at 1:00 pm.
Faulkner County Focus Sports 