ITTA BENA, Miss. – In a season in which the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff rewrote the school's soccer history book, this certainly wasn't the final chapter second-year head coach Roberto Mazza wanted to end the 2008 season with.
Last year's defending champion and the East's No. 3 seeded Alabama A&M Lady Bulldogs rallied from a 1-0 halftime deficit to claim a 2-1 victory Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Southwestern Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament on the campus of Mississippi Valley State University.
UAPB (7-9-1), the No. 2 seed from the West, finished the year with its most wins in school history, its first trip to postseason play, its first “Offensive Player of the Year” (Jade West), its first “Freshman of the Year” (West), its first First Team All-SWAC Performer (West) and its most total team members named to the SWAC All-Conference team (5).
“It's disappointing sure,” Mazza said. “But after it's all said and done and after we step back and look at what this group of mostly freshmen has accomplished this season, it's nothing short of amazing.”
West, who was named both the Offensive Player and Freshman of the Year in the SWAC on Wednesday, got the Lady Lions on the scoreboard at the 28:32 mark of the first half with a nifty shot to the upper right corner of the goal that easily beat Lady Bulldog keeper Racquel Johnson.
“That was a big-time goal,” Mazza said. “That was the reason we brought Jade West to Pine Bluff. Her ability to make shots like that is what separates her from the rest of the conference.”
Unfortunately for Pine Bluff, West's goal, her school-record 17th of the season, would be all the offense they would be able to muster against Alabama A&M (7-10-2).
A strange play resulted in the Lady Bulldogs' game-tying goal at the 60:51 mark of the second-half.
With the ball on UAPB's end of the field, a kicked ball clearly hit one of A&M's players in the hand resulting in what should have been called a “hand-ball”. But while the Lady Lions slowed up to regain possession of the ball, the referee allowed play to continue.
In the confusion which resulted from the no-call, Celeste Roberts took full advantage of the situation and knotted the score at 1-1 as her shot easily zipped past UAPB goalie Bre-Ann Laypoole.
With the Lady Lions obviously rattled, UAPB was issued a season-high two yellow-cards after the goal; Alabama A&M kept attacking.
A&M's Belinda Kanda scored the eventual game-winner at the 80:48 point, as the senior beat a pair of UAPB defenders for the goal.
“I'm proud of this team,” Mazza said. “We were picked in the preseason to finish fourth in our division and we were one goal away from winning it. This team has a lot of potential and they have the chance to get even better next year.”
Also picking up post-season honors were All-SWAC Second Team members Nicole Parks-Powell, Rachel Harker and Erika Forbes. All three are freshmen.
Additionally, senior Shanek Douglas was named to the 2008 All-Academic Team with a 4.0 GPA.
