Lady Bulldogs impress soccer coach

By Ben Keller and Clark Johnson
UCA sportswriting

The St. Joseph Lady Bulldogs soccer team won, 4-0, and controlled the whole game against the Westside Consolidated Lady Warriors on Friday at the Bill Stephens Track and Soccer Complex in Conway.

The Lady Bulldogs now have an overall record of 8-2-1 and a conference record of 5-1-1. The game against the Lady Warriors was originally scheduled for April 26. It was set to be played on Thursday, but because of the huge amount of rain in Conway, the Centennial Bank Soccer Complex was still under water. The teams were allowed to play on UCA’s soccer field to make up the conference game.

St. Joe coach Kevin Rittman said the game was one of the best he has seen his team play this season.

“This was probably the best possession play we’ve had in a game all year,” he said. “We focused on finding the open person and keeping possession of the ball.”

St. Joseph (8-2-1, 5-1-1) claimed an early lead to establish pace during the match. In the seventh minute, junior forward Jennifer Hegeman tucked the ball in the right side of the night after a slide shot to give the Lady Bulldog’s their first goal of the match. After over 25 minutes of dominating possession, Hegeman doubled her total in the 33rd. Streaking off a fast break, Hegeman charged towards goal, drawing the Westside goalkeeper from the goal box, again tucking the ball in the bottom right corner of the net. Senior forward Heather Dail added another goal to St. Joseph’s tally to send her team into halftime with a 3-0 lead.

Rittman said he was impressed that his team was able to go into halftime with a 3-0 lead. He said the team’s plan was to keep the game constantly moving.

“We played wide and spread everyone out to make sure they were constantly running,” he said.

In the second half, the Lady Wildcat’s saw no chances come their way. St. Joseph took 12 shots on goal in the half, but only one found its way to the net. In the 44th minute, senior Brandi Elsinger sent a past Westside defenders to senior forward Rebecca Moix. Moix played the ball and sent St. Joseph’s fourth goal of the match flying past the left side of the Westside keeper. The Lady Wildcats could only defend as they were shut out to give St. Joseph its first win since its draw against Episcopal Collegiate.