No. 4 Houston Baptist Shocks No. 1 Central Arkansas in Semifinal
Southland Conference
Final Box Score
Photo Gallery
2016 Tournament Central
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – The match-up is finalized for the Southland Conference Soccer Championship as No. 4 Houston Baptist upset No. 1 Central Arkansas 2-0 on Friday night to seal their place against No. 2 Stephen F. Austin for Sunday afternoon.
Both sides looked to assert themselves early, playing confident long balls and searching for holes in the opposing thirds. However, it was Houston Baptist who had the better of the opening chances, with a rebound swinging out to sophomore forward Sabriah Spencer with 8:26 played, but the shot was just barely deflected to the left of a wide open Central Arkansas net.
The Sugar Bears were made to cut out another quality opportunity with 13:38 played. Junior goalkeeper Anna Hughes was forced into a great low corner save off a long free kick from senior Allison Abendschein.
The Husky onslaught paid off in spectacular fashion, with junior Elle Hall weaving through the Sugar Bear defense and firing a left-footed shot into the top right corner to give Houston Baptist an early 1-0 lead 17:23 into the first half.
Houston Baptist’s pace created headaches on both ends of the field Central Arkansas, who were unable to piece together many meaningful possessions. The Huskies held a massive advantage on possession and shut down most of the Sugar Bear passing plays before they made their way past midfield. UCA would have an opportunity with a free kick just outside the 20-yard box with under a minute to play in the half, but senior Allie Coleman’s shot went well high of the Husky goal.
Houston Baptist would hold fast and take their 1-0 lead into halftime, holding a 9-6 advantage on total shots and a 3-1 edge in shots on goal.
Head coach Jeremy Bishop saw fit to pull goalkeeper Anna Hughes for the second half, who gave way for sophomore shot stopper Lauren Mercuri, who had been a routine contender for the Sugar Bears in the regular season. However, the Huskies pressure continued and sophomore Sabriah Spencer would double Houston Baptist’s lead with a close-range goal from the corner of the six-yard box – her sixth of the season.
The game turned physical for both sides, with two significant injury stoppages and a foul total of 11 between the two teams as they approached the final 15 minutes of regulation. The Sugar Bears had also been assessed three yellow cards – a statistic that they led the league in during the regular season with 11 total bookings in 19 games.
As the second half wore down, it was Houston Baptist that remained well in control, maintaining comfortable possession and continuing to create scoring chance to keep Central Arkansas on the back foot. Bishop continued to make multiple changes to his back and front lines, but no combination could fire up the offensive firepower that the Sugar Bears were so renowned for this regular season.
Central Arkansas nearly notched a goal with under a minute remaining but a phenomenal double save from Guevara preserved the two-goal lead and the Huskies locked up their spot in the championship game with a convincing 2-0 victory.
The Huskies held a 17-10 advantage on total shots and a 5-4 edge in shots on goal. Abendschein racked up eight of those shots for the Huskies, including two on goal to pace a potent Houston Baptist attack that dismantled Central Arkansas.
They will face off against No. 2 Stephen F. Austin in the championship game on Sunday, Nov. 6 at 1:05 p.m. The title match-up will be an exclusive broadcast of
ESPN3, available on
WatchESPN and the WatchESPN mobile apps.
Misty Jones, Houston Baptist head coach:
“Let's give Central Arkansas credit, they are a good team. However, we stuck to our game plan and put in a solid 90 minutes. Our players played with heart and came to win.
The entire back line has been solid the whole tournament. Liz (Adams) had a big game with one-on-one defending. Alanis (Guevara) had a big save at the end that saved the shutout. Our offensive line has been very effective. Ellee (Hall) and Sabriah (Spencer) has had some clutch goals and major impact in both games. Allison (Abendschein) has been dominant in the midfield and in the air. We are looking forward to a rematch of the 2014 championship.”
Jeremy Bishop, Central Arkansas head coach:
“We have to credit HBU, they did a very good job of putting us under a lot of pressure and we didn’t handle it very well.
We knew that we needed to get the ball to our forwards to break that pressure, but just did not do a good job of that. We tried to play side to side but just could not get anything going. We’ve been great at that all season long but just weren’t getting the ball where we needed it tonight.”