Mena, Arkansas – The Bucks (1-6-2; 1-3-2) women's soccer team faced the nationally ranked, #10 Rose State, on Sunday afternoon at Bearcat Stadium. The Bucks held strong through the first half, but the Lady Raiders showed their strength in the second half to seal the win, 3-0.
The Bucks and Lady Raiders went toe to toe for the first twenty minutes of the game with the Bucks defense holding strong. Arcelia Marquez (Lubbock, TX) had two saves to keep Rose State scoreless. However, a defensive breakdown and lucky roll lead to a score by #12 April Rose off of a rebound on a shot by #9 Laura Carvajal Grana. The Lady Raiders would control much of the rest of the half, but the Bucks defense held strong leading to a halftime score of 1-0 in favor of Rose State.
After a halftime visit with Coach Brian Byrd, the Bucks came out strong. Madison Zamudio (Mansfield, TX) would fire a shot within three minutes of starting the half. After a few shots by Rose State, Isabel Martinez (New Hamburg, Ontario) fired a shot from deep, but the Lady Raiders' keeper, Adrianna Schroeder, made a nice save. Following a yellow card on Maria Saldana (Houston, TX), Zamudio would get in on the offensive action again that lead to another save by Schroeder. But, it would be a defensive battle for the Bucks until the end of the game. Madison Zamudio recorded three defensive saves, and Marquez continued to work hard in the goal for the Bucks. However, the Lady Raiders would score on a penalty kick (hand ball) by #9 Laura Carvajal Grana in the 79th minute. Four minutes later, Rose State would score again, #7 Chelse Hay assisted by #11 Madison Shatswell. The late goals sealed the win, 3-0.
The Lady Raiders controled the game with 25 shots (22 on goal) compared to the Bucks 3 shots (2 on goal). This made for a busy day for Bucks' keeper, Arcelia Marquez. She recorded 15 saves on the day compared to the Rose State keeper with two. The Lady Raiders had 14 corner kicks in the win.
The Bucks will be back in action on Thursday, October 3rd, at NOC-Tonkawa for a 2 pm kickoff.
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