Lady Bulldogs manage draw against Episcopal

By Clark Johnson
UCA sportswriting

After a bizarre goal on the opening kickoff, the St. Joseph Lady Bulldogs clawed back to claim a 1-1 draw against Episcopal Collegiate Tuesday at Centennial Park in Conway in a 4A-North conference match.

St. Joseph (7-2-1, 4-1-1) opened the game defending the north goal. With winds exceeding 20 mph blowing south, the Lady Wildcats took advantage of their favorable position. On the kickoff, junior Hayden Knabe received the mandatory initial pass, then sent a shot from beyond midfield to Lady Bulldog’s senior goalkeeper Taylor Ross. The lob-shot took an awkward bounce, springing just over Ross’ extended hands to give Episcopal Collegiate a 1-0 lead with only four seconds gone in the game.

Lady Bulldogs coach Kevin Rittman didn’t find the goal too bizarre.

“It’s a typical strategy when the wind is over 20 mph,” Rittman said. “If the keeper mishandles it, the ball goes in. She (Ross) just misjudged it.”

Both teams had scoring chances following the opening goal. In the fourth minute, Lady Bulldogs sophomore Brooke Rittman received a well-placed pass near midfield, resulting in a fast break with a sole defender to beat. Rittman beat her defender, but her final dribble came too close to the Episcopal Collegiate goalkeeper as the ball was snagged from Rittman’s feet.

In the 25th minute, the Lady Bulldogs almost went two goals down from a similar shot to the opening goal. After a St. Joseph player fouled a Lady Wildcat, Episcopal Collegiate was awarded a free kick from 30 yards out. Knabe stepped up to take the kick, but this time, the bounce wasn’t as friendly as it sailed just over the crossbar. St. Joseph saw no more chances as the first half ended, 1-0.

St. Joseph equalized just ten minutes into the second half. On a cross from junior Taylor Rittman, junior Jennifer Hegeman tucked the ball into the bottom left corner of the net to give the Lady Bulldogs their only goal of the game. A few goal-scoring chances came for Episcopal Collegiate, but nothing was produced, ending the game 1-1.

The Lady Wildcats ended the game with eight shots on goal compared to St. Joseph’s two. The Lady Bulldogs committed four fouls compared to Episcopal Collegiate’s one. St. Joseph took six corner kicks in the game.

Kevin Rittman praised his team’s defensive effort.

“We defended really well,” he said. “We played with four backs, and they did a great job in the first half. (Episcopal) only had a few opportunities in the first. Playing against the wind, we did a great job.”

The two shots for the Lady Bulldogs gave little opportunity for chances to claim a win, Rittman said.

“We did OK," he said. "We talked about keeping possession of the ball. We had some poor moments when we got into playing kickball. I was happy; we had a good effort. Episcopal is a great team and we went toe to toe with them.”

St. Joseph will look to claim a victory when it takes on in-town rival Conway Christian on Tuesday at Centennial Field.