Lady'Backs fall to LSU SEC Tournament dream gone

BATON ROUGE, La. – It was a valiant second half effort by the University of Arkansas Lady Razorbacks soccer team on Friday night, but a crossbar and a lucky strike ended the Lady Razorbacks hopes of advancing to the SEC Championship Tournament as it fell to the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, La., on Friday night, 1-0.

The loss drops the Lady Razorbacks to 10-6-2 on the season and 3-5-2 in SEC play while LSU improves to 9-8-3 overall and 4-4-3 in conference action. By virtue of the results from other teams in the conference, LSU was also eliminated from post-season play despite the win.

“It was a frustrating game tonight because it was not a good performance by us,” Arkansas head coach Gordon Henderson said. “We struggled all night with the wind, the field conditions and our passing. Even though we struggled though, we still had two or three glorious chances that we should have capitalized on and in the end that was the difference in the game.”

Playing on a rain soaked field that played havoc with passes from both squads and against a crosswind that did not allow any long passes through the air, the action was dominated by short passes in the midfield and numerous changes in possession.

The Tigers would be the first team to master the elements on Friday night and used that skill to pepper the Lady Razorback defense with numerous shots. While most sailed high or wide, a couple were right on target and if it had not been for the play of goalkeeper Carrie Dillsaver, defender Sarah Gwisdala and senior defender Devon Burger, LSU could have held a two or three goal lead at the half. Instead, Arkansas went into the locker rooms tied at zero and looking to take the action back to LSU in the second.

The second half began with an LSU start, but it became apparent from the opening touch that Arkansas was not going to lay down for the Tigers. The Lady Razorbacks picked up their play and did to LSU exactly what it did in the first by controlling the ball and creating all sorts of scoring opportunities.

In the opening seven minutes, the Lady’Backs would create several chances including a shot by Christina Burger that pinged off the crossbar and over the goal. Burger would get another chance later in the period, but a pass from Lindsay Patterson got caught up in her feet as a defender pushed Burger into the ball and the LSU goalkeeper was able to slide and cover the loose ball.

The Lady Razorbacks conclude their regular season on Sunday afternoon when they host the Kentucky Wildcats at Lady’Back Field beginning at noon.

“Of course this is going to be tough to come back on Sunday,” Henderson said. “We have other goals that we would like to attain as a team and those include beating Kentucky for the first time in several years, allowing the seniors to end their careers with a victory and matching the school record for wins in a season.”

For more information about Lady Razorback soccer or about Arkansas women’s athletics, please go to LADYBACKS.COM.