Soccer Wins Late in Front of Record Crowd
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Claire Kelley broke a scoreless tie for the second-consecutive match, but this time it was in the 82nd minute to propel the Razorbacks to a 1-0 victory over TCU on Sunday night. Kelley’s 10th career goal sent a record-breaking crowd of 2,337 home happy and moved Arkansas to an undefeated opening weekend at Razorback Field.
With under 10 minutes to go in the match, Katie Moore faced up with a TCU defender one-on-one near the right corner. After shaking the Horned Frog loose, she sent a cross into the box that found the head of Kelley. She got just enough of it to trickle past Courtney Hofer – the diving TCU keeper – and into the goal.
“The buildup was great,” head coach Colby Hale said. “We work on attacking combinations in the final third quite a bit and Katie did a great job getting forward; it was a great goal.”
The Razorback supporters went into a frenzy and watched on the edge of their seats while Arkansas fended off an inspired TCU run in the final minutes to secure the 1-0 win.
Once again, Jordan Harris started at keeper for the Razorbacks and played the entire first half. She made two saves, including a sprawling save to her right against a shot by McKenzie Oliver only 69 seconds into the match. Cameron Carter played the second half in net and got her 24th career win, which puts her into a three-way tie for third in Arkansas program history.
It was a physical match all the way through, as there were a total of 41 fouls – 23 on Arkansas and 18 by TCU – and two yellow yards issued to Horned Frogs. Many set pieces from both sides included inspired scrums in the box, but none were successful. The Razorbacks led in corner opportunities once again, as they followed up their 12-0 dominance over SFA on Friday with a 6-3 advantage on this night.
“You could tell it wasn’t going to be a beautiful soccer game by any stretch of the imagination,” Hale said. “I thought both teams fought hard. We created some good chances and overall our kids just did what it took to win.”
Next up, Arkansas heads to the Northeast for matchups with Yale and Penn State over the weekend. The road trip includes a stop in New Haven, Conn., on Friday, Aug. 28 and then a trip to State College, Pa., on Saturday, Aug. 30.
For more information on Razorback Soccer during the season, follow @RazorbackSoccer on Twitter.
