Box Score
CONWAY — It took just more than 81 minutes, but it was well worth the wait as Central Arkansas scored late on a goal from freshman Abigail Hodgson then held on the rest of the way to defeat Tulsa 1-0 on Sunday.
“It’s definitely an amazing day for UCA women’s soccer,” said head coach Tina Banham, who registered her 100th career win. “Going in, we felt like that would be our toughest test since moving to Division I. They’re well-coached and very talented but today we played the best game we’ve ever played. I’m proud of all the girls – it took a full team effort to come away with that win.”
After 80 minutes of a defensive battle with neither team mounting much of an attack, the Bears (3-3-1) finally broke through on Hodgson’s first career goal. Freshman Sarah Correll passed to former Fayetteville High teammate Elizabeth Brady, who served a cross from the left side just in front of the goal to Hodgson who banged it in past Tulsa keeper Katie Bykowski.
“We’ve been working on those set pieces since the beginning of the season and this was the first one we actually did,” Banham said. “We called it and it worked. It’s amazing when you do things right and it works. It makes you feel good about it and the kids believe in it that way. [Hodgson] made the correct run, we played the ball right and she buried it in the back of the net. It was a little slow developing – the first pass was a little bit off, but Elizabeth did a good job of recovering and getting a good second touch and playing it across.”
Tulsa (5-3) held a 12-4 shots advantage with four on goal to just two for UCA, but sophomore goalkeeper Kelsey Gochnauer recorded four saves to preserve the Bears’ fourth shutout of the season.
The win was the second in a row for the Bears, who defeated Prairie View A&M 4-0 on Friday.
“We’re playing a lot of young players and we’re just starting to figure some things out,” Banham said. “And that’s what you want. You want your non-conference games to help you peak at the right time when conference season rolls around. Today I think was a great step forward in doing that. We’re excited about the future but we know we still have a long way to go. We can’t be satisfied with just winning today.”
The Bears will play the fourth of a seven-game home stand on Friday when they host UAPB at 4 p.m.
