(September 2, 2024) Mena, Arkansas - With the game originally scheduled for Sunday in Wilburton, the Bucks started their region schedule on Labor Day at Tapley Park. The Bucks took on last year's Region Runner-up, Eastern Oklahoma State College.

 

Even though it was early in the season, the Bucks were without 4 starters due to injury and suspension, which affected the playing style of the team. Whenever you have more than a third of your starting team out, in any sport, you will always struggle to provide a cutting edge. The patched-up Bucks team started well, cancelling out the Eastern system of play, but as the half progressed, the Mountaineers started to gain control of the game, keeping possession and putting the Bucks defense under a lot of pressure. Goalkeeper Oliver Bewell (Toulouse, France) was a major factor in keeping the game scoreless at halftime, making some very good saves as the last line of defense.  

 

Eastern had been dominating the midfield in the first half, so the Bucks took away a striker to bolster the midfield. This had the effect of slowing down potential Eastern attacks, but at the cost of limiting attacking opportunities for the Bucks. Despite being on the back foot, the Bucks counterattacked with great speed and efficiency, which ended in a foul by Eastern 25 yards away from their goal. Lucas Bruni Cardoso (Jacarei, Brazil) stepped up and drove a wonderful curling shot into the corner of the net to give the Bucks a surprising 1-0 lead.  

 

Eastern threw everything at the Bucks defense looking for any opening they could find. The Bucks were standing tall until the back line lost concentration and let the attacking player get in behind. The cross into the box found an unmarked Eastern player, who poked home from close range. It was a very dissapointing way to concede a goal after working so hard to take the lead.

 

As the game was closing, it was very evident that the lack of fitness levels in the Bucks players, combined with the determined push by Eastern for the win that something would break. With just 90 seconds to go, another Bucks defender fell asleep at a free kick. Eastern got in behind again on the left, and the resulting cross was once again finished with a tap in for the winning goal. The Bucks fall to 1-2-0 on the year after the 2-1 loss on Monday.

 

Coach Sherry was optimistic after the match on Labor Day. "We can move forward with positive momentum after this very difficult game. The performance, despite the result, does give us confidence and shows we can be a good team, but one that can improve. We need the players to believe, and I think they do. They just need to think of the team's needs more during the game instead of their own and always put the team first for us to progress. Of course, we still have a number of players that can make a difference out injured which bodes well for the future if we can get them back soon."

 

The men return to the pitch on Sunday, September 8th, at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College. Kickoff is scheduled for 5 pm in Miami, OK.