Seniors shine in Lady Hornets’ final home match
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Photos by Rick Nation
Seniors scored eight of the Bryant Lady Hornets’ goals on Senior Night at Bryant Stadium Tuesday. Improving to 18-0-2 overall and 9-0 in the South Conference, the Lady Hornets eased to a 9-0 win over the Lake Hamilton Lady Wolves before honoring the seniors prior to the varsity boys match.
Callie Schalk and Rori Whittaker each had two goals. In addition, Kara Taylor, Taylor Matthews, Haylee Campbell and Thirza van der Weijde each had one. Bryant built an 8-0 lead by halftime and, in accordance with the mercy rule, the second half was cut from 40 minutes to 20.
“It was a great game to finish up our home matches,” acknowledged Lady Hornets coach Julie Long. “All but three of my seniors scored.
“They worked hard, and had fun last night, and in the big scheme of things that’s the most important thing,” she added. “I am beyond proud of this group of seniors. They are a special group that has a huge heart and strong leaders. Senior Night is always a hard night for us and last night was not an exception. I am looking forward to the rest of the season with these girls.”
The rest of the season includes a final regular-season match at El Dorado on Friday then the Class 7A State Tournament in Bentonville starting May 15.
On Tuesday, Schalk scored the first two goals in short order. The first came less than three minutes in, off a feed from Tori Rose. Less than a minute later, she scored again with Taylor picking up the assist.
Whittaker’s first goal, off another assist from Rose, made it 3-0 with 22:51 left in the half. At 22:18, Taylor took a pass from Caroline Campbell and shot one past the keeper. The barrage continued at 21:12 with Whittaker’s second goal. Jacie McMahan got the assist. At 20:40, it was Matthews’ turn as Anna Lowery assisted.
Whitney Brown, the lone underclassman to score, made it 7-0 when she scored off a pass from Kierra Solinger at the 15:15 mark. Haylee Campbell’s goal came off an assist from van der Weijde at 8:16, setting the halftime tally.
Less than six minutes into the second half, van der Weijde, a foreign exchange student from The Netherlands, capped off the scoring off a pass from Haylee Campbell.
Bryant keeper Maddie Hawkins saved the lone Lake Hamilton shot on goal.
