Final Score: Lipscomb 2, Central Arkansas 3
Location: Nashville, TN. (Lipscomb Soccer Complex)
Records: Lipscomb (5-3-2, 1-1-1 ASUN), Central Arkansas (4-5-0, 3-0-0 ASUN)
The Bisons fell to the Central Arkansas Bears in their first home loss of the season after an electric offensive start to the match.
Going into the match, Lipscomb was ranked fourth in the ASUN and Central Arkansas was ranked second. The Bears went into conference play with a record of 1-5 but opened up the conference-season opening weekend 2-0. A win in the match would result in the Bears claiming first place in the ASUN, and they knew that entering Nashville.
Kiara Pralle opened up the scoring action early on, scoring at the end of the 3' minute of the match. Pralle's breakaway goal was hard-earned, taking the keeper out of the goal and leaving two Central Arkansas defenders to try and stop the ball themselves. Pralle was able to kick the ball past the defenders and into the goal.
In the 7' minute,
Kiara Pralle found a scoring opportunity yet again and capitalized off of it.
Hailey Johnson dribbled the ball up the right side of the field through three defenders to pass the ball to Pralle inside the box, who scored in the top of the goal despite the best efforts of a Bears defender and their goalie. It seemed early on that Lipscomb would be pulling away without much of a fight from the Bears.
It didn't take a full 50 seconds before Central Arkansas was able to respond with a goal of their own. The assisted goal made its way past Lipscomb keeper
Kaïna Cesar, who ended the match with 2 saves. With the momentum in their favor, the Bears were able to score yet another goal in the 28' minute before the first half came to a close.
The second half was gritty for both teams, neither wanting to leave the field with anything less than a win. The match got very physical with 35 combined fouls, 21 of which were called in the second half of the match. Three yellow cards were issued in the second 45 minutes of play; one to a Central Arkansas player, one to the head coach of the Bears, and the third to Pralle for Lipscomb.
As a result of Pralle's yellow card, the Bears were awarded a free kick, which they were able to score off of for their third and final goal of the match at the start of the 79' minute. Both teams showed a lot of heart in the match and left their all on the field.
Despite their 28 shots in the match, 12 of which were deemed on target, and 8 corner kicks, Lipscomb was unable to translate their opportunities to goals as often as Central Arkansas did with their 12 shots, 5 of which were on goal, and 3 corners.
The Bisons will host the North Alabama Lions on Sept. 29
th at 1:00 PM. Lipscomb's Pups at the Pitch match will be held at Lipscomb Soccer Complex in an effort for the Bisons to get back in the win column before the end of the week.
