Mena, Arkansas – To start the second half of Region II play, the Rich Mountain Bucks (1-8-2 overall; 1-5-2) were home against the Lady Norse of Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (3-8-1 overall; 2-5-1) on Sunday afternoon. With a berth in the regional tournament still at large, the Bucks would fall to the Lady Norse by a score of 6-0.
To start the first half, the Bucks and Lady Norse would swap possessions for approximately 8 minutes. NEO would end the drought with a shot, but Maria Diedrick (Merrivale, South Africa) would make a great defensive save. The Bucks would maintain possession and fire a shot of their own, but NEO would counter with a shot that was initially saved but dropped by keepr Arcelia Marquez (Lubbock, TX). NEO's #3 Seyton Thomas would put in the rebound to put the Lady Norse ahead 1-0. Three minutes later, NEO would be on the attack again. A defensive deflection would land at the feet of #15 Brianna Cox, and she would find the back of the net to extend the Lady Norse lead, 2-0. The Bucks would bounce back with a good possession. Monica Boyes (Abilene, TX) and Madison Zamudio (Mansfield, TX) would fire a shot apiece before the Lady Norse countered with 2 corner kicks and a shot. Marquez would shut the door with a nice save that lead to another Zamudio shot. NEO would get 1 more opportunity in the half, but Leigha Wilkinson (Van Buren, AR) made a defensive save to shut down the attack. Nicole Martinez (Houston, TX) along with the combo of Boyes and Zamudio would all fire shots. The Lady Norse keeper, Julia Bruner, denied the Bucks opportunities of scoring. The half would end in favor the NEO, 2-0.
Madison Zamudio was looking to put the Bucks on the board to start the half. Her early shot would be wide right. NEO would make their counter with a shot by Thomas, but Marquez made another save. Thomas got her own rebound and found the back of the net to increase the Lady Norse lead. Both teams would trade shots/possessions until the Bucks fouled the Lady Norse inside the penalty area. Brianna Cox took the penalty kick and made it count for her second score of the afternoon. Cox wasn't done yet. She made it a hat trick two minutes after her penalty shot with another goal over the keepers head to give the Lady Norse a 5-0 lead. Over a minute later, Seyton Thomas got herself a hat trick with her third goal of the afternoon. The Bucks would maintain possession for the remainder of the game, but all shots would come up empty. The Lady Norse would win 6-0. Late in the half, Tatum Moore (Lonoke, AR) received her second yellow card of the match and would be ejected.
The highlight for the Bucks would be that they outshot NEO 15 to 13; however only 6 of the shots would be on goal. Arcelia Marquez recorded 4 saves on the day. Julia Bruner had 6 saves of her own for NEO. NEO had 4 corner kicks compared to the Bucks 3.
The men's match would get postponed. The Bucks had the lead 1-0 with 29 minutes remaining. The match will be reschedule at a later date.
The Bucks will be on the road this coming Thursday in Tishamingo, Oklahoma where they will face the Murray State Aggies. Kickoffs are scheduled for 2 pm and 4 pm.
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