Despite clear skies and a high of 90 degrees, the women’s soccer Tulsa Golden Hurricane could not be contained on UCA turf, ultimately leaving the Bears downstream and downtrodden for their final nonconference game of the season.
The 2-0 loss comes off the heels of the team’s first win of the season — a 1-0 shutout of Oral Roberts University on Sept. 7 as UCA celebrated Player Appreciation Night at home. Capping off their preconference play with a record of 1-4-2, coach Jeremy Bishop said he was excited for the team to start fresh but gave credit to the team’s improvement, which he said was “night and day.”
Bishop said, “Between where we started and where we are today — playing a lot better, giving up a lot less chances for the other teams, and creating a few more for ourselves.
“We gotta continue to get better at that. So you know, looking forward to conference season 0-0 now. We’re just hoping that we can continue to play well like we have the last few matches,” he said.
UCA found a tough opponent in The University of Tulsa (2-6), who took over twice as many shots as the Bears in the packed 90 minutes on the pitch. The Golden Hurricane managed 21 shots with a total of nine on goal.
The sunny Sunday matchup marked the most shots the Bears have made thus far in the season — nine — and the most shots on goal, with six.
“We’re competing,” Bishop said. “We’re out there trying to win the ball and battling for it and doing a pretty good job of that better than we were early on.”
Of those six shots on goal, the changemakers were freshman midfielder Megan Moudy with one; junior forward Anna Kerr with two; senior Emily Wissel-Littmann with one; and graduate student and midfielder Sydney Brough with two.
The Golden Hurricane did not let up on its defensive attack of the Bears, running them up and down the pitch for last-minute points in both halves, capitalizing on tired legs and a ticking clock.
Junior midfielder Kelly Van Gundy steals the ball from an opponent.
Tulsa freshman and forward Leah Diaz grabbed the game’s first goal, with only six minutes left in the first. Sophomore forward Jordan Frederick scored the game’s last point with just three minutes left.
UCA goalkeeper and sophomore Lenja Kenstel marked three saves, with one ball given up to Diaz. Junior Kajsa Pruner recorded four saves and one ball given up to Tulsa’s Frederick.
Bishop said that the team did what it was supposed to offensively.
“They were doing a good job of getting numbers behind the ball and making it hard. Most of the shots aren’t going on frame because we’re making them shoot from a distance.
“That’s a big adjustment that we made early on in the season till now. Just being able to do a good job of keeping the game in front of us and making them have to earn everything from outside the box,” he said.
The Bears’ next game marks the start of their ASUN Conference play. UCA will hit the road and face off against Queens University on Sept. 14 in Charlotte, N.C. The game will stream live at 6 p.m. on ESPN+. After that, the Bears will head back home to face Kennesaw State at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17.