Ladycats Lose First Conference Game, 2-1

BY NORM BETZ –

The Mena Ladycats hosted the Lady Badgers of Arkadelphia in a 4A-2 Conference soccer game on Mena’s Senior Night. Unfortunately for the Ladycats, they were outscored 2-1, and lost their first conference game of the season.

The game didn’t exactly start the way the Ladycats and third-year head coach Kevin Bledsoe thought or hoped it would. The Lady Badgers scored a quick, kind of fluke goal in the first couple minutes of the game. The ball was kicked into the box with several players around and it bounced around in front of Mena goalkeeper McKenna Law, before ultimately finding its way into the back of the net.

“Arkadelphia is a tough team and they always play us hard,” said Bledsoe. “We played them twice last year and both games went to penalty kicks, so I expected a tough game.”

Arkadelphia went up 2-0 just eight minutes later on a seeing-eye shot from the outside that also eluded Law, Mena’s keeper.

“We were a little rocky coming out, they scored two quick goals in the first 10 minutes,” explained Bledsoe. “The first goal we were just lackadaisical in the box and the ball pin-balled around a little bit and they punched it in. The second goal, we actually did what we were supposed to do, forced them outside but she was able to make a great shot and it found the net.”

The Ladycats could have easily hung their heads after being down a pair of goals just 10 minutes into the contest, but that was not an option. The Ladycats continued to scratch and claw and it finally paid dividends when senior foreign exchange student Sara Hamalainen found the back of the net with 24 minutes to play in the opening half, to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Hamalainen is a foreign exchange student from Finland.

“We were able to get one on the board to cut the lead in half in the first,” said Bledsoe. “We did have plenty of opportunities to tie it up in the first but we just couldn’t capitalize.”

The wind definitely played a role in the contest as the Lady Badgers won the toss and had their backs to the wind in the first half. It was a strong wind coming out of the south and Arkadelphia capitalized on it scoring two goals.

“They had the wind the whole first half so they had the advantage there,” Bledsoe said. “It was honestly a game of win advantage and they won the toss and took the ball with the wind.”

The Ladycats controlled the ball for most of the second half, but just couldn’t put the ball in the net. The wind was not nearly as strong as the first half and wasn’t as big of a factor in the second half.

“In the second half, we had the wind, won the majority of the balls, we just couldn’t put the ball in the net,” said Bledsoe. “The girls played hard. I can’t discount their effort.”

Neither team was able to beat the opposing keeper in the second half and the final score remained 2-1, with Arkadelphia handing Mena their first conference loss of the season.

“After the game I told the girls you have to play the whole game like you did in the last two minutes of the game with such great urgency,” explained Bledsoe. “That really was our only downfall today and we’re gonna learn from this and continue to improve.”

The Ladycats sport a 7-7-1 overall record and are 4-1 in conference play. There are nine teams in the 4A-2 Conference with the top four moving onto the State Tournament. The Ladycats are currently one of five teams vying for one of the coveted spots. Central Arkansas Christian, Arkadelphia, Malvern, Mena, and Arkansas Baptist are the teams in the hunt with just two conference games remaining on the schedule.

The Ladycats final two conference games are against Malvern and Central Arkansas Christian, two of the top five teams in the conference.

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