BOONE, N.C. – Little Rock spotted App State a two goal lead, then came on strong in the second half but couldn't net the equalizer, falling 2-1 to the Mountaineers in the regular season finale. Little Rock heads into the postseason with an overall record of 7-7-4 and 3-4-3 in Sun Belt play.
"I was disappointed with the result, but I was happy with the attitude of our team and the effort," said head coach
Mark Foster. "We played some good soccer today and created a lot of chances, but we weren't able to finish those. We gave up a couple of mental lapses which put us in a hole, and those ultimately kept the game from turning in our favor. Obviously I'm disappointed, but I'm optimistic about the effort and look forward to seeing what we can do in the (Sun Belt) tournament."
App State struck first in the 18th minute taking the 1-0 lead into intermission. The Mountaineer lead would extend to 2-0 in the 58th minute before Little Rock upped the intensity.
The Trojans cut the lead in half in the 83rd minute off a goal from
Fanney Einarsdottir, making the score 2-1. Little Rock then had a pair of chances in the closing minutes but
Alicia Holmberg's shot went high in the 88th minute and Einarsdottir had another look, but her shot into the bottom left corner was saved to preserve the Mountaineer victory.
On the day, the Trojans held a 10-8 edge in shots, including putting six on goal as opposed to four from App State. Einarsdottir paced Little Rock with three shots, all of which were on goal, with
Vanessa Eklund adding a pair.
Jana Heinen,
Allison Morrison and
Karina De Paoli each were credited with a shot on goal on the afternoon.
Defensively,
Saskia Wagner made a pair of saves in goal while allowing the two tallies from App State.
Little Rock closes out the regular season and will be the number eight seed in the Sun Belt Tournament, facing the number nine seed Louisiana at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, November 1 in Foley, Alabama. The complete conference tournament schedule will be released Thursday following the conclusion of the Troy-ULM match scheduled for 1 p.m. that afternoon.
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