CONWAY, AR – The Lady Lions lost 2-1 to the UCA Bears in an exciting overtime match. The Lady Lions matched UCA toughness and played hard in both halves of the game.
At the 77th freshman defender Reaghan Zilkie passed a perfect ball to junior midfielder Rachel Harker who then found the feet of junior forward Jade West who finished on goal. This marks West's seventh goal of the season and she is now tied with teammate Nicole Parks-Powell for most goals in the SWAC.
“That goal was huge for us. It was a perfect example of transition play through each level of the field. A defender passed to a midfielder who passed to a forward who scored the goal. Once that goal was scored our momentum picked up and the girls looked more confident,” said Mazza.
Unfortunately UAPB's go-ahead-goal did not phase UCA because in the 89th minute the Bears found the back of the net off a bad bounce on the 18yrd line. Six minutes into overtime UCA scored the golden goal to end the game.
“I look at this game a win for our team in other ways,” said Mazza. “We have had some great success so far this season and today's game brought us back down to reality. We have to work hard until the very end of the game. There are always some elements to work on after a game but usually if there is a win those elements can be pushed aside or forgotten. Today I saw areas that we need to improve on and had we not lost that way we might not have been talking about those issues in the locker room. Now we address those issues and we grow from them,” said Mazza.
The Lady Lions return to Conway to play Central Baptist College Wednesday night at
6PM.
