LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock soccer team (4-5-6, 1-1-4 Sun Belt) earned its first Sun Belt victory of the season this evening in a critical 4-0 shutout of ULM (3-8-2, 0-5 Sun Belt), giving the Trojans three points toward conference play to move them up the rankings.
"Delighted for our group that's been working so hard to get the rewards they deserve and see that number up on the scoreboard," said head coach
Mark Foster. "Clean sheet, 4-0, strong top to bottom on both the defense and the offense…you can't beat it. This will give us confidence and hopefully push us forward at a crucial point of the year."
Although Little Rock commanded the ball most of the night, the Trojans made adjustments in the second half in order to finally follow through with their chances. After
Morgan Smocovich earned her first goal of the season in the 52nd minute, chipping the goalkeeper but dipping the ball right under the top crossbar, the floodgates seemed to open.
Astros Luckas made her move inside the box, turning and shooting the ball into the lower right-hand corner for a goal in the 62nd minute, her second of the year. Five minutes later,
Ziva Payer beat the defenders down the right side of the field multiple times before taking a hard kick to the top left corner for her first goal. To wrap up the scoring for the evening, just two minutes after Payer,
Abril Lucio also collected her first goal with a quick breakaway shot into the lower left-hand corner.
The Warhawks turned up the pressure in the last 15 minutes of the game, showing their desperation as they fired off several shots whenever they had the slightest bit of room, despite being far outside the box.
Julia Curatolo scooped up six saves throughout the night, while the other eight ULM shots were misplaced. Offensively, several other Trojans created opportunities, with
Julia Edholm,
Fanney Einarsdottir,
Maddy Peake, and
Peyton Laughley also putting up shots on goal.
The Trojans will host their final home game of the season this Sunday, Oct. 13 with a tailgate to get ready for the final home game against Appalachian State. The tailgate will begin around noon, while kickoff is set for 1:00 p.m.
For the latest information on Little Rock Soccer, make sure to check out
LRTrojans.com. You can also find the team on social media at @LittleRockSOC on
Facebook,
Instagram and
Twitter.
#LittleRocksTeam
