Box Score |
YouTube: Coach BlewittLITTLE ROCK – In front of a large crowd participating in the team's second-annual Trojan Tailgate, the Little Rock soccer team played to a 0-0 draw with Georgia Southern at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex on Friday night.
The Trojans outshot the Eagles 22-16, but neither team was able to find the back of the net after 110 minutes.
Caitlyn Eddy and
Quin Wilkes led the team with four shots apiece, and
Sara Small earned her third shutout of the season with seven saves in blanking the Sun Belt Conference's top offense entering the night.
Friday was the fourth consecutive overtime game for Little Rock (5-5-3, 0-1-2 Sun Belt Conference) and their second straight tie in league play. Georgia Southern (4-6-2, 1-1-1) also picked up a shutout from keeper Emily Egan and her seven saves.
After Friday night's games, Little Rock holds the No. 8 spot in the league standings. The Trojans will host league-leader Georgia State on Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex.
Entering the overtime period, Little Rock led 15-12 in the shots category but trailed 5-4 in shots on goal.
During the first overtime,
Fali Garuba nearly ended things with a shot from a sharp angle on the right side, but Egan leaped high and caught the shot in midair. A minute later, Small had to make a save on the Eagles' Nora El-Shami to keep the night alive. In the 100th minute, the Trojans had a chance to win as
Caitlyn Eddy took a corner kick, but the resulting shot from
Claire Palmer was blocked and a
Bailey Fithian second effort went high.
In the second overtime,
Quin Wilkes had a chance to score in the 103rd minute, but her shot went right at Egan to keep the game going.
Caitlyn Eddy also had a shot saved with under a minute to play, and the Eagles never had a chance to counter before the final whistle sounded.
The first half began the theme of no scoring. Small had to make two tremendous saves in the half to keep the Eagles off the scoreboard, and Fithian had an excellent defensive play to keep the Eagles from taking a shot inside the six-yard box late in the half.
Little Rock controlled the first half hour before the Eagles had the better run of play in the last 15 minutes. Wilkes took three shots in the first half and had the only shot on goal, forcing Egan to make her only save of the period.
The second half saw more of the same, with Egan having to make three saves while Small was only tested once.
Jacqueline Borucki had the best chance of the period, putting a shot on goal with five minutes to play that Egan caught.
Eight different Trojans played the entire game: Small, Fithian, Wilkes, Palmer, Eddy, Garuba,
Mikayla Uyokpeyi and
Hali Long.
Shannon Shields saw 97 minutes of action, and
Talia Graves played 65 minutes off the bench.
The Trojans have now played four consecutive overtime games for the first time in program history, and the team has played five overtime games in a season for the first time ever.
Little Rock is right back to work on Sunday, taking on Georgia State at 1 p.m.
