Arkansas Soccer – Women’s College Soccer Teams See Action

FAYETTEVILLE – The University of Arkansas soccer team defeated the Kansas Jayhawks by a score of 1-0 on Friday night in Fayetteville. Sophomore Ashleigh Ellenwood scored the lone goal in the match off the dish from freshman Claire Kelley.

“We are going to try and stay grounded,” head coach Colby Hale said. “We are going to take things day-by-day and look at what some of the things are that we did well and what are some things we need to improve on. The defense was really grinding tough tonight, Kansas has a lot of good attackers and they really stepped up for us.”

The Arkansas Razorbacks (1-0, 0-0) picked up the season opening win over the Jayhawks (0-1, 0-0) in front of a record crowd of 1,385 fans, which is good for the fourth-best attendance in Razorback Field history.

The Razorbacks controlled the ball on the offensive side of the game tallying nine total shots with five shots on goal. Junior Tyler Allen led the way with two shots on goal for the team, followed by junior Jeriann Okoro and sophomores Margaret Power and Ellenwood each with one shot on goal.

“We had a game plan going into tonight’s game,” defender Power said. “We wanted to win all of our one-on-one battles on the defensive side, we wanted win the ball in the air and not let in any easy crosses and I thought we did a great job tonight.”

Arkansas defense helped solidify the win on the night. The Jayhawks fired in 11 shots with 5 being on goal. Arkansas freshman goal keeper Cameron Carter collected her first shutout of her young Razorback career.

“The fans were unbelievable tonight,” Hale said. “That was a big time crowd for us, the fans were screaming and cheering for us and it awesome.”

The Razorbacks return to the pitch on Sunday Aug. 25, to face the SMU Mustangs. The match is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. (CT).

For more information on Arkansas Soccer, follow @RazorbackSoccer on Twitter.

JONESBORO — The Arkansas State women’s soccer team kicked off the 2013 athletics season by battling Southern Miss to a 2-2 draw at the ASU Soccer Complex Friday afternoon.

The Red Wolves (0-0-1) held a 2-1 advantage after the first half thanks to goals from Loren Mitchell and Christine Giles. Mitchell evened the score at 1-1 in the 13^th minute on a shot from the top of the goalkeeper’s box that found the back of the net. Ashley Jackson helped setup up Mitchell on the goal with a pass through traffic to give the A-State forward an open look at the net.

A-State took the lead in the 34^th minute when Giles connected on her first goal of the season after finding open space in the net from the left side of the field. Madison Joyce assisted on the goal and the Red Wolves took a one goal advantage into the halftime break.

Southern Miss (0-0-1) battled back in the second half and scored the equalizer in the 65^th minute on a goal from Adriana Garcia. An ASU defender appeared to have had made a save on the shot, but it was ruled that she was behind the scoring line when the save was made and the goal counted to even the score at 2-2.

“It is not the result we wanted, but we are a work in progress,” A-State soccer coach Tafadzwa Ziyenge said. “Our objective was to defend home turf and we certainly want to win more than we draw, but we need to work on finishing on our chances and then those wins will come.”

After neither team scored in the first overtime period, the Red Wolves had a scoring opportunity in the 102^nd minute when Christina Fink found herself one-on-one with USM goalkeeper, but her shot sailed just the left of the post.

Mitchell also had a scoring opportunity in the 109^th minute, but her attempt fell into the arms of USM’s Brittany Taylor and the match ended a tie.

Fink and Mitchell finished the match with four shots apiece, each missing their career high for shots in a match by one. Giles added two shots on the afternoon, both of which landed on-goal, while Madison Joyce, Katherine Padgett and Jordan Adams also had shot for ASU.

In goal, true freshman Michaela Supple made six saves in her first game as the Red Wolves goalie.

ASU will travel to Starkville, Miss., for a match against Mississippi State on Sunday at 1 p.m. It will be the Red Wolves’ first meeting against the Bulldogs since 2011 when ASU defeated the squad in Jonesboro.

BATESVILLE – Lyon College sophomores Monica Ayala Martinez (Bogota, Colombia) andKyleigh Easter (Haslet, Tex.) combined for three second half goals on heads-up plays as the Scots rolled off four straight goals in the game for a 4-1 win over Central Baptist College in the season opener for both schools at J. Marshall Huser Field Friday.

Despite outshooting the Lady Mustangs 11-5 in the first half, it took Lyon College 44:34 to put its first goal on the board and salvage a 1-1 standoff at the break. But when the Scots began finding the goal they didn’t let up.

Lyon took nine shots in the final 45 minutes converting three of them into goals and letting the defense do the rest. Junior Stephanie Spiteri(Haywood, Calif.) improved to 1-0 on the year in goal and only had to register a pair of saves. The Scots outshot the Lady Mustangs 20-10 for the game, including 14-4 on shots on goal.

Kensey Morris put CBC on top 1-0 with 39:17 gone in the contest when she took a pass from Tarra Hendricks and converted a shot.

It appeared as if Lyon would miss all its opportunities in the first half until freshmanElyse Albright (Maumelle, Ark.) took a pass from Martinez and cashed in with just 26 seconds left before the half.

Martinez then scored her first goal 9:53 into the second half when she took a pass from sophomore Maria Alonzo (Guatemala City, Guatemala) and gave the Scots their first lead of the season.

A short time later Easter broke free down the middle of the field and maneuvered past the last Lady Mustang defender and sliced shot past the CBC goalkeeper Becca Clements to lift Lyon to a 3-1 lead with 26:21 remaining.

The Scots final goal came 71:15 into the contest when Easter attempted a long shot on a free kick. The ball bounced almost straight down off the crossbar and Martinez was there to slam it into the back of the net.

The officials then stopped the game with 15 minutes remaining because darkness was causing unsafe play for the participants.

Martinez led Lyon College with six shots, while Albright added five. Both players had four shots on goal. Easter attempted four shots, with three of them coming on goal, Alonzo tried three shots and sophomore Kara Blackwell (Conway, Ark.) attempted two.

Kinsey Morris paced the Lady Mustangs with four shots, with three of them coming on goal.

Lyon College won’t have too much time to recuperate. The Scots travel to Pine Bluff on Sunday to take on NCAA Division I opponent University of Arkansas Pine Bluff at 4 p.m. The Scots will then visit Wiley College in Longview, Tex.  on Sept. 6 and Texas College in Tyler on Sept. 7.

The next home match will be on Sept. 13 against NCAA Division II opponent Christian Brothers University at 2 p.m.

LITTLE ROCK – UALR opens a new era of soccer on Sunday as the Trojans take on Southern at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex.

LEADING OFF
• UALR enters the 2013 campaign with a new head coach in Adrian Blewitt and a renewed hope to compete in the Sun Belt Conference.
• With the top three finishers in the league from last season — North Texas, Middle Tennessee and FIU — all departing, the SBC should be wide open and very competitive this year. New to the SBC this year are Texas State and Georgia State.
• The Trojans’ 2013 schedule includes 10 home games and seven on the road. The team will play nine non-conference matches including road tilts at Ole Miss, Austin Peay and Murray State. UALR will host Southern, UAPB, UMKC, Missouri State, Louisiana Tech and UAB before Sun Belt action begins.
• The Trojans return their top four point scorers from 2012 in Ariel Galletti (5-3–13),Alyson Rohane (2-1–5), Paige Mason (2-1–5) and Adrianna Queen (2-0–4). Also back are seniors Ashley Barksdale and Holly Holland.
• UALR has 14 newcomers on the roster this year including three from Sweden, two from England and one from Germany. The Trojans also pick up two upperclassmen transfers from Florida universities.

ABOUT SOUTHERN
• The Jaguars, based in Baton Rouge, La., play in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Their head coach, Courtnie Prather, is a former UALR goalkeeper in her first year leading Southern. Prather, who played for the Trojans from 1996-98, remains fifth all-time at UALR with a 2.32 goals against average and seventh all-time with 159 saves. Prather is also seventh with 2,115 career minutes.
• The Jaguars were 1-11-1 last season, finishing with a 1-2-1 record in conference play. Their lone victory came against Texas Southern in their season finale.
• UALR and Southern have never met. The Trojans are 10-2 lifetime against members of the SWAC including a 4-1 record against UAPB, a 2-0 record against Alabama A&M, a 1-0 record against Alcorn State and a 1-1 record against Grambling.
• Southern will play its first game of the season on the road Friday against Nicholls State.

A WIN AGAINST SOUTHERN WOULD…
…start the Trojans with a 1-0 record for the first time since 2011 when they defeated Missouri State 3-1…improve UALR’s record against SWAC teams to 11-2…be the team’s first victory all-time against Southern…be the team’s second non-conference win in its last three non-conference games…give coach Adrian Blewitt his first victory at the Division I level.

2012 REVIEW
The Trojans ended their 2012 campaign with a 3-1 loss at home against Arkansas State. UALR was 2-16-0 overall with a non-conference victory over UAPB and a SBC win against FAU, which has also left the league for Conference USA.
UALR went 2-7 at home but 0-9 in road contests last season. The team missed the conference tournament for the third consecutive year.
Ariel Galletti led all Trojan players with five goals and three assists for a combined 13 points. Five other players scored goals and nine total had at least one point. Of those nine, six are back with the team this season.
Goalies Shantel Wittke and Natalie Marsh combined to bring UALR to the league lead in saves with 9.17 per game and 165 overall. Neither returns to the team in 2013.

PRESEASON ACTION
The Trojans got a 2-1 victory over Christian Brothers in their only exhibition contest of the season on Wednesday night. Senior Paige Mason opened the UALR scoring in the 55th minute with a tap-in goal on a cross from Dakotah Sparrman. Kayla Turner scored the game-winner with 10 minutes left in the contest. Sara Cavanagh and Kylie Wilson played goal for the Trojans in the game. The Trojans defeated Lyons College 2-1 in an exhibition last year and now have a streak of two consecutive seasons with an exhibition victory before the regular season begins.

PRESEASON ACCOLADES
Two members of the UALR soccer team took home preseason honors in early August as Ariel Galletti was named to the Sun Belt Preseason All-Conference First Team and Betsy Blackwood earned Second Team accolades from CollegeSportsMadness.com. Galletti, a junior from San Luis Obispo, Calif., concluded her sophomore season as the Trojans’ leading scorer with 13 points on five goals and three assists. Blackwood, a junior from Tucson, Ariz., started 17 of the Trojans’ 18 games, racking up nearly 1,400 minutes of playing time.
UALR was picked to finish eighth in the conference by the Sun Belt coaches in their preseason poll released Tuesday. The Trojans got 23 points in the voting, six ahead of last-place ULM.

UALR IN SEASON OPENERS
The Trojans hold a lifetime record of 10-16 in season openers, though one of those losses was forfeited by the opponent afterward to give UALR an actual record of 11-15 in its first game of a season. The Trojans’ last victory in a season opener came in 2011 when they defeated Missouri State 3-1. Adrianna Queen had one of the team’s goals, and Alyson Rohane had UALR’s only assist.

NEW MAN IN CHARGE
Head coach Adrian Blewitt takes over the reins of the UALR program this season. Blewitt comes to Little Rock with 15 years of head coaching experience for men and women at the Division 2 level. Blewitt has compiled a 167-66-12 overall record at Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, N.C.) and Lenoir-Rhyne University (Hickory, N.C.) including a 36-5-3 mark in his final two seasons as head coach at Lenoir-Rhyne.

MINDING THE NET
The Trojans welcome three new goaltenders to the team in 2013, and all will be new to soccer at the Division 1 level. Junior Kylie Wilson played at Division II West Florida in 2011 and 2012, seeing action in two games for a combined 32 minutes in 2011. UALR is also the new home of freshmen Shara Robbins — a Hot Springs native — and Sara Cavanagh from Maryland. All three will be vying for playing time as the season begins.

NEWCOMERS — INTERNATIONAL FLAIR
• The Trojans’ roster is filled with 14 newcomers this season, making up more than half of the team.
• Of those 14 new athletes, 11 are freshmen, two are juniors (Madison Hartley, Kylie Wilson) and one is a senior (Andrea Letzel).
• Six of the 14 newcomers come to Little Rock from across the Atlantic Ocean, giving the team a distinct international flair this season. Three Swedes (Linnea Kogsta, Mathilda Torstensson and Malin Westerberg) join the team as freshmen. Two freshmen from England (Hayley Fowle, Olivia Goddard) are new to UALR as well. The lone new senior, Andrea Letzel, hails from Mainz, Germany.
• The two juniors transferring to the program come from the Sunshine State. Hartley (North Florida) and Wilson (West Florida) played together at the club soccer level and have already earned some college experience.
• The rest of the incoming class includes athletes from across the country: Sara Cavanagh(Bowie, Md.); Hali Long (St. Charles, Mo.); Shara Robbins (Hot Springs, Ark.); Dakotah Sparrman (Apple Valley, Minn.); Kayla Turner (Sterling Heights, Mich.) and Mikayla Uyokpeyi (Garland, Texas).

CAREER NUMBERS WATCH
• Ariel Galletti’s next goal will be her 10th.
• Holly Holland is 73 minutes away from 2,000 in her career.
• Adrianna Queen’s next goal (12) will move her to 12th all-time in UALR history. She is four goals shy of entering the top 10.
• Alyson Rohane’s next goal will be her fifth.

UP NEXT
UALR has just a one-day break before its second game of the season against UAPB on Tuesday. The Trojans and the Lions will kick off at the Coleman Sports & Recreation Complex at 7 p.m.

Courtesy Schools’ Athletic Departments