LITTLE ROCK – The Little Rock soccer team (2-4-1, 2-2-1 Sun Belt) put an end to Arkansas State's unblemished season and fought off the division-leading Red Wolves (7-0-1, 6-0-1 Sun Belt) in double overtime tonight at home, finishing the match tied 0-0.
"The girls played an amazing game tonight and can take a lot of confidence from going toe-to-toe with a team that was in the final last year and is at the top of our bracket this year," said head coach
Mark Foster. "As I've been saying to these ladies all along, we can be as good as anybody on our day, so hopefully they can take a lot of confidence from tonight's performance."
Coming to Little Rock from Germany, goalkeeper
Saskia Wagner is coming into her own between the posts for the Trojans. The freshman grabbed five saves and helped the Trojans hold off 14 corner kicks to record a shutout in the process, the third of the season.
"Playing and communicating to midfielders and defenders in front of her in a different language, she's taken to it and doing really well," remarked Coach Foster. "Saskia had one big time save where she was backpedaling and punched the corner. It was a kick that we thought was going to swing into the net with the wind and somehow, she got her fist to it and got it out. She made some big-time saves tonight, and we can take confidence from having such a good goalkeeper behind the back four."
Little Rock looked confident throughout the evening, playing a balanced game on both sides of the ball: keeping possession and making smart passes upfield as well as keeping the Red Wolves out of the home team's box. A combination of quick footwork and bright ideas set the Trojans up for several opportunities, but none of those chances were able to play out in Little Rock's favor. However, Little Rock was also able to prevent a frustrated Red Wolves squad from scoring, a team that was previously averaging two goals per game.
"Defending is a team effort and when we don't have the ball, we defend from the front," added Coach Foster. "Each player had a very specific role as far as how we defend and take the space away from Arkansas State's speed. To play the way we played tonight you need all 11 girls to buy into the defensive game plan, and they did, and then the girls that subbed and rotated in really paid attention to the small details and got us a deserved clean sheet."
The Trojans will hit the road for the next two road games, including a trek to Texas State this Sunday, Oct. 18 for a 1:00 p.m. contest. Make sure to mark your calendars to cheer on Little Rock on Thursday, Oct. 29 for their last home match of the season, their final regular season conference game, and senior day beginning at 5:00 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.
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