CONWAY, Ark. – The Central Arkansas women's soccer team fought through some outside adversity against the Alabama State Lady Hornets, ultimately walking away with a 7-0 win Thursday night.
The Bears (1-2-1) captured their first win on the year with a dominant showing against Alabama State, with five players scoring goals, including two goals apiece from
Megan Moudy and
Caroline Billings.
Jama Akpanudo also turned in a terrific performance, logging a goal and two assists.
The scoring started right out of the gates, with the Bears driving up the field and earning a free kick from 25 yards out. Moudy stepped up and drilled it past the Lady Hornet wall, and past the outstretched keeper, putting the home team up just four minutes into the game. The Bears doubled the lead with a brilliant find from Akpanudo, who took the ball deep into enemy territory before dishing it to
Sakiko Manabe, who slotted home the goal just a couple minutes later.
Manabe was on the giving end of the third goal, looping a cross in high over the defense, where Billings came crashing in to finish with the header. A short while later, in the 26
th minute, lightning struck, sending the teams into a 70-minute lightning delay.
After the delay, the Bears got right back to work. With a little less than 15 minutes left in the first half, nearly two hours since kickoff, Moudy found
Ashlyn May running down the sideline, and May crossed it in for
Makenna Adam, who finished the shot past the keeper.
Halftime came and went, and Central Arkansas didn't stop there. Driving up the field again, a combination pass from
Rylee Reisdorph to Billings, who flicked it to
Sophia Backstrom, who passed it over the top for Akpanudo, and the junior forward finished it home. Just a few minutes later, Akpanudo would find Billings for a sixth goal in the game, and Akpanudo posted her fifth goal contribution over the last two games with Billings' second goal of the day. Moudy added a PK for good measure, putting the Bears' lead at seven, matching the season-high from last year's game against Arkansas Pine Bluff.
A lighting issue occurred with 13 minutes remaining in the match, and the game was called at that point, with the night growing long and the game out of reach. Central Arkansas is on the road for the next one, heading up to Springfield to take on the Missouri State Bears on Sunday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
