Box Score MONROE, La. ? The UALR Trojans soccer team (8-5) rebounded from Friday night's loss to Louisiana-Lafayette with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over ULM on Sunday. The win gives the Trojans eight wins in a season, the first since 1996. The win also gives UALR five shutout victories on the season, one away from the record six set by the 1998 Trojan squad.
“We had a lot better effort today than on Friday,” said head coach Greg Hess. “We've been so much better on Sundays for some reason. Today, we had so many opportunities to put them away but couldn't capitalize. And in the second half, Alisa (Spitali) had a great pass and found Jessi (Beaver) on a breakaway to score. The intensity was much better than it was on Friday, but there were those moments when we let them back in the game.”
The game was a total reversal of what happened on Friday night. The Trojans played with more hustle and intensity, and it showed as Trojan goalie Jane Picarelli did not need to register a save at all in the first half. Her counterpart for the Warhawks, Mallory George, made all three saves that came her way in the first half. However, the Trojans had 11 shots in the half, compared to ULM's three.
The second half started, and the Trojans kept up the intensity against the Warhawks. In the 65th minute, the Trojans finally found the back of the net as Jessica Beaver scored off an assist from Alisa Spitali. The goal was Beaver's fourth of the season and gave Spitali her first assist of the season.
In all, UALR had 19 shots for the game, with nine coming on goal. In comparison, ULM only sent 7 shots toward Jane Picarelli and only two of them were on goal.
The Trojans continue their road trip next weekend. The Trojans play Middle Tennessee next Friday Oct. 12 with game time set for 7 pm. On Sunday Oct. 14, the Trojans will battle Western Kentucky in a game that has implications for who will be on top of the Sun Belt Conference. Game time is set for 1 pm.
