Other Sports
Central Arkansas women’s soccer blanks Little Rock, gets first UAC win
Three first-half goals and a Harrell shutout gave UCA a 3-0 win over Little Rock and its first league victory.
CONWAY, Ark. — Anna Kathryn Harrell spent Sunday evening turning away everything Little Rock sent at her.
Six shots came her way on target. None got in, and the Central Arkansas women’s soccer team picked up its first conference win because of it.
Harrell’s work sealed a 3-0 shutout of the Trojans. It’s the senior goalkeeper’s first clean sheet this season.
The offense handled its part early. UCA scored all three goals in the first half.
The win moves the Bears to 4-5-2 overall and 1-1 in UAC play.
Jama Akpanudo, Makenna Adam and Megan Moudy each scored. Sakiko Manabe set up two of them, and the senior never put a shot on frame herself.
Little Rock slipped to 2-5-2.
The back line did the heavy lifting
Harrell got plenty of help from the four players in front of her.
Brooke Cross, Emerson Kercher, Rylee Reisdorph and Kaylee Vorisek handled the defense for the full 90 minutes.
Little Rock came out of halftime pushing hard. When you’re down three, you don’t have much to lose.
Things got physical in the middle of the field. The teams combined for 20 fouls, and 11 were called on UCA.
The Trojans tried just about everything in the second half. It didn’t matter.
With roughly 15 minutes to go, the Bears started holding the ball for longer stretches. A few more trips down the field, and Little Rock ran out of time.
Moudy’s free kick sneaks in off the post
Moudy’s goal at 31:57 is the one Little Rock will want to forget.
Just before it, the Trojans had a couple of chances. Neither gave Harrell much trouble.
Then UCA worked back up the field and got fouled about 25 yards from the net.
Manabe and Moudy both lined up over the ball. Little Rock set a four-player wall near the right side of the goal.
Manabe ran through first, like she might take it that way.
She didn’t take it. Moudy did, slapping a low shot to the left that slid past the front of the goal and went in off the post.
It was the sophomore’s fourth goal of the season.
Two goals, 94 seconds apart
Freshman Sophia Backstrom got the first looks of the night, firing a couple of early shots at the Little Rock defense.
The first goal started with a stop. The Bears turned back the Trojans’ opening attack and went the other way.
Manabe passed to Adam, who split two defenders with a ball into open space.
Akpanudo took off after it. The freshman forward left both defenders behind, got there before the keeper, stepped around the last thing in her path and scored at 9:43.
That’s her third goal of the year.
UCA earned a corner a little over a minute later.
Adam didn’t pass this one along. The sophomore forward headed it in at 11:17 to make it 2-0.
Next up: Abilene Christian
Adam finished with a goal, an assist and a team-high three shots.
The Bears outshot Little Rock 13-11 and had six corners to the Trojans’ four.
They also got caught offside five times. Little Rock wasn’t whistled for it once.
UCA now heads out on the road for its next few matches.
The first stop is Abilene Christian on Sunday, Oct. 4. The Bears and Wildcats kick off at 1 p.m. in Abilene, Texas.
