Trojans Bow Out of Sun Belt Tournament With 2-1 Loss

EMERSON, Ga. – The Little Rock soccer team saw its second consecutive winning season come to an end on Wednesday morning with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Appalachian State in the Sun Belt Tournament Quarterfinal.
 
Arola Aparicio Gili scored a tying goal early in the second half, but the Mountaineers got the game-winner off the foot of Jane Cline with 12 minutes to play.
 
Little Rock (8-7-5) had the edge in most statistical categories during the game, bettering Appalachian State (10-6-3) in shots by a 14-12 margin, shots on goal by an 8-6 tally and corner kicks 7-3.
 
Goalkeeper Sara Small made four saves during the contest, finishing her year with 86 total. Her final goals against average of 1.02 breaks the previous school record of 1.25 set just last year by Bre Ilkuf at 1.25. Small's six shutouts on the season will also be a single-season school record.
 
After a 39th-minute strike by Jenn Bass that gave the Mountaineers the lead, Little Rock got the equalizing goal in the 48th minute of the feet of Aparicio, her first goal as a Trojan. Shannon Shields – the team's leading scorer at season's end with 17 points – kept a ball from going out of bounds on the left side of the field and kicked it between the legs of an App State defender. Shields got a low pass right into the middle of the box where Aparicio was waiting. The Spain native settled the ball and quickly put a shot past Megan Roberson to tie the contest at 1-1.
 
But in the 78th minute, App State scored the game winner. Jane Cline settled a high, bouncing pass from midfield by Carrie Taylor and beat two Little Rock defenders for a breakaway. Her shot got past Small and started a celebration for the No. 4 seeded team.
 
Little Rock's best chances of forcing overtime came just minutes later.
 
In the 80th minute, Shields got a through pass from the midfield and put the ball past Roberson, but the referee's flag went up for offside and the goal was disallowed. Not 60 seconds after that, Wilkes received a great through ball from the midfield and got the ball past Roberson again, but her shot bounced off the right post and away from danger.
 
With two minutes to play, Mikayla Uyokpeyi hit a low, hard cross in for Shields, but the redirection went high and wide.
 
The Mountaineers got on the board in the 39th minute when Jenn Bass struck from in close. App State's Merlin Beckwith had the ball on the left flank and crossed it into a dangerous area. Bass tried to take a swing at the ball in midair, and she wound up knocking it down to herself. Regaining her feet, she put the ball into the net after Small tried to defend the initial shot that never happened.
 
Little Rock nearly scored in the 32nd minute when Jaclyn Purvine got a head on a cross from Talia Graves on the left side. But Roberson made one of her five saves in the first half, diving to her left to keep Purvine's header out of the twine.
 
At halftime, the Trojans held a 9-6 advantage in shots and a 5-3 edge in shots on goal despite trailing 1-0.
 
Wednesday's defeat marked the third consecutive season that the Trojans have gone out of the conference tournament in the first round by a 2-1 score.
 
Despite the loss, the 2015 Little Rock soccer season was another step forward for the program. In the non-conference portion of the schedule, the Trojans played and hung with major-conference opponents. The team tied Texas 0-0 and took Ole Miss to overtime. In conference play, Little Rock earned its highest-ever seed by finishing fifth in the conference.
 
Small was the record-breaker for Little Rock, posting a program-best 1.02 goals against average and .804 save percentage at season's end. The team also set a new record for ties with five and team goals against average with 1.07.
 
The Trojans' current roster has no seniors on it, so the team could return even stronger in 2016.