Box Score LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock soccer team (5-6-6, 2-2-4 Sun Belt) fell to Troy (10-2-4, 5-1-2 Sun Belt) in their first of two away matches this week, scoring the first goal of the match to head into the break ahead but being unable to stop two going into the back of the net from the opponent in the second half.
Julia Edholm notched the first goal of the night in the 35th minute, charging up the middle after a clean pass from
Morgan Smocovich. Edholm collected her sixth goal of the season by chipping the ball over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net, while Smocovich tallied her sixth assist. The goal was just the third in the first half of a match for Little Rock this season out of the 18 total.
Troy retaliated in the second half, crossing a wide out-of-reach shot into the right corner of the net from approximately 20 yards out in the 67th minute for the equalizer. They again scored in the 84th minute off of a free kick, bouncing the ball into the bottom left side of the goal.
"Once we settled down a bit in the first half, we scored a good goal," said head coach
Mark Foster. "We actually played quite well on the attack in the second half, but their goalkeeper really was the player of the game. She made excellent saves again and again."
Although the Troy Trojans were more aggressive in terms of shots in the first half, attempting 11 with only four on target, Little Rock was more efficient, placing three shots with two of those on goal and one on the board. Both teams turned up the pressure in the second half, with Troy earning five corner kicks as they moved up the field. However, Little Rock stepped up as well with four additional shots on goal to highlight an increasing offensive movement throughout the season.
"I'm delighted with the performance despite the results and hoping we can keep up the way we're playing," added Foster. "We're looking forward to Sunday even though it'll be another tough one on the road, but I'm sure we'll bounce back after tonight. Any time that our women have something up against us we come back really well."
Little Rock will stay in Alabama for the weekend, heading to Mobile to face off against South Alabama, the number one team in the Sun Belt standings, at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday. It will be the second-to-last game of the regular season for the Trojans.
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
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