ROGERS -- The Decatur Lady Bulldog soccer team opened its second season in Rogers March 6, taking on the Rogers Lady Mountaineers junior varsity team in a non-conference matchup. Sixty minutes later, the Lady Bulldogs suffered their first loss of 2019 at the hands of a more experienced 6A soccer club, by eight goals.
Since the Lady Bulldog basketball team extended its 2019 season by playing in the 2A Regional tournament in Danville Feb. 20, the soccer team was unable to practice at full strength until Feb. 25, giving players less than five days of practice to come together as a team. The recent cold weather, rain and snow cut into the practice schedule, resulting in the loss of two good practices.
By game day March 5, Mother Nature threw the Decatur girls yet another curve when another arctic cold snap and snow forced the cancellation and rescheduling of the contest to March 6.
When the two teams met at Mountaineers Stadium in Rogers, the Lady Mounties took advantage of the Lady Bulldogs' weakness and scored four goals in the first 10 minutes of the match. Decatur finally gained momentum midway through the half and slowed the Rogers scoring efforts down, preventing a blowout in the first half. The Lady Mounties did score three more times during the last 10 minutes of the half to take a 7-0 lead into the halftime break.
The Lady Bulldogs came back in the second half, attacking the goal several times. Excellent coverage by the Rogers goalkeeper prevented Decatur from scoring.
The Lady Mounties connected with the net one final time taking the match 8-0 over the Lady Bulldogs.
Sports on 03/13/2019