UALR drops opening soccer match to NSU

Photo credit: lrtrojans.com

LITTLE ROCK — UALR (0-1) is shut out in their season opener against Northwestern State (1-0) by a final of 2-0. NSU goalkeeper Alex Latham was a beast, as she thwarted 13 shots-on-goal by the Trojans.

"Thirteen saves is a lot of work, but my defense made it as easy as possible by cutting down lanes, and I took care of what I took care of," Latham said. "As a whole, we worked really well."

"It's a great confidence booster to get the win," Latham continued. "And it's really exciting for our offense to get two goals tonight -- that will help us heading into Sunday's game at Ole Miss."

Sophomore Arola Aparicio Gili and senior Shannon Shields led Little Rock with five shots, including three shots-on-goal each. UALR's offense actually created 24 shots to only eight shots by NSU, but the Lady Demons made the most of their opportunities and utilized a stifling defense to shut down the Trojans.

"We've got to get more players behind the ball," said UALR head coach Adrian Blewitt. "We have too many players kind of standing up field, and not really helping us defensively, and the back line got exposed twice on the counter attack. And they have some good speed up front and they got through behind us twice. We've got to defend our own half."

The Lady Demons head coach George Van Linder was more than pleased with his squad's defensive effort. "We've focused the whole preseason on defense, so we needed a good effort tonight," said Van Linder. "Our defense stood up to the challenge and battled even though Little Rock had a lot of chances tonight."

"Little Rock threw the first punch early," Van Linder continued. "But we were pleased with our last 60 minutes and pleased to get a good result on the road."

Up next: @ UCA on Sunday, August 21 at 7 p.m.