The infamous home game advantage could not save the women’s soccer team from a 2-0 loss against fierce rival Lipscomb University Bisons Sunday, Sept. 25.
Just three days after their first conference win, the Bears lost their footing against Lipscomb’s Kale’a Perry, who leads in ASUN goals with four on record, second only to teammate Kelli Beiler’s five.
“Lipscomb is really good,” Coach Jeremy Bishop said. “They do a really good job in their midfield, made us chase a lot, but we competed well with them.”
Lipscomb kicked the game off with two shots by Beiler within the first five minutes. A strong start by Lipscomb was met with two fiery shots from UCA’s redshirt freshman Maria Vanegas.
Vanegas has one previous goal under her belt from the team’s 2-0 win against Grambling State. Vanegas leads the freshman pack along with Tristyn Pavatt for shots and goals.
Bishop attempted to mix the play up with a large round of substitutions just 15 minutes away from halftime.
With fresh legs on the field, the Bears made a respectable effort against the Bisons. Graduate student Taylor Webb made her presence known with two shots later in the first half.
Freshman Emma Rehm and sophomore Amanda Walsh followed suit by closing out the period with a shot each, just missing the goal both times.
The Bears shined in the first half, with seven shots to Lipscomb’s nine.
Bishop said the team can learn from the match, “I’m proud of that, we’ll take that away from it and keep building. We created some good opportunities to score. That’s been our struggle this year: getting opportunities. We had some today and we just gotta do a better job in those moments so that we can get the ball in the net.”
The Bears have struggled to create shot opportunities in their 2022 season with the loss of major shooters such as Emma Hawkins, Morgan Rollow and Laurel Landry.
Hawkins was named First Team All-ASUN, broke the school record on points and led in conference goals and assists during her time at UCA before being plucked by Oklahoma State University.
The second half saw the Bisons gearing up to take the game, with Perry breaking the stalemate by finally landing a ball in the net, less than five minutes into the period. The goal was Perry’s fourth of the season.
Shortly after, Lipscomb’s Shelby Craft grabbed another goal, bringing the score to 2-0.
The Bears only made three shots in the second, one by Vanegas before the two goals, and two last-minute attempts by sophomore Kelly Van Gundy and senior Taylor Lassiter.
Freshman goalkeeper Kajsa Pruner recorded five saves. Pruner leads in the goals-against category in the ASUN conference, placing third with an average of 1.50.
Pruner rallied the team post-match with words of encouragement.
“I’m very proud of everyone today. We had five shots on goal … that’s really good,” Pruner said. “I want us to remember even if we don’t play [well] one day, we’re here for each other. Be thankful for every morning,” Pruner said.
The Bears will hit the road for their next two matches. The team will play current conference leader Liberty University, Sept. 29, in Lynchburg, Virginia, at 5 p.m. Liberty has not lost a conference game yet and currently holds an ASUN score of 3-0-1. Overall they stand at 7-3-2.
Next, UCA will take on Queens University, Oct. 2, at 12 p.m. in Charlotte, North Carolina. Queens stands 1-2-1 in conference, with one more game against North Alabama University (0-2-2) before they meet the Bears.