JONESBORO, AR—The Lady Lions came out and dominated the first half against the Red Wolves of ASU Sunday afternoon at ASU Soccer Complex. At one point in the game, the Lady Lions were up 3-0 in the first half. The game was exciting for UAPB as the Red Wolves appeared to be the underdogs of the match. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.

The Lady Lions scored the opening goal in the 17^th minute when Silvia Fuentes and Reaghan Zilkie found Nicole Parks-Powell in the middle of the box. Parks-Powell put away her 6^th goal of the season. The scoring continued in the 21^st minute when Rachel Harker found Silvia Fuentes on the run up the middle. Fuentes put away a brilliant goal that sailed over the keeper's reach. The scoring did not end there because the Lady Lions were in top form. Parks-Powell scored her second goal of the game in the 26^th minute after Molly Stone and Silvia Fuentes found her for a dazzling header that easily beat the ASU keeper. After UAPB's three goals, ASU's starting keeper was subbed off. The Red Wolves were able to get on the board in the 36^th minute to make the score 3-1 going into half time.

“You cannot ask for a better start then that,” said Head Coach Roberto Mazza. ”I thought they did not have an answer for us as we took it to them and dominated in the first half”.

In the start of the second half the Red Wolves came out and put the pressure on the Lady Lions. Nicole Parks-Powell had a chance to put the Lady Lions up by three goals again when she took a shot that hit the crossbar. The Lady Wolves cut the lead down to one when they scored in the 74^th minute. But again the Lady Lions answered to that goal when Austen Keithley scored on a free kick from Silvia Fuentes in the 80^th minute.It was a dramatic ending in regulation time when ASU scored two goals in the final minutes of play to extend the game into overtime with the score being 4-4.

 “It was disappointing being up two goals in the last minute of play and having ASU score two goals. It was a game that we should have won but sometimes in soccer funny things happen,” said Mazza.

In the start of the first overtime period the Lady Lions put a lot of pressure on ASU and had two chances to put the game away with both free kicks on the goal line near the 18 yard box. In the second period of overtime, ASU had a chance but was called offside and the game ended in a 4-4 tie.

 “In a game like this you would expect to win being up by two goals in the last minute but the game is 90 minutes and not 89 minutes. I am a big believer that you have to have these experiences and be in these situations to learn what it takes to be a champion. I am so proud of the girls for going out there and proving to themselves again against a big school that has much more resources and a bigger budget than us. We only had 3 substitutes throughout the game and we did not drop our heads when we went into overtime. This was an unbelievable game to be a part of and this is something our team needed at this stage going into SWAC play,” said Coach Mazza.

The Lady Lions are now 3-4-1 in non-conference play. The Lady Lions will be at home Friday and will face another Arkansas rival, the University of Central Arkansas. The game is scheduled for 4PM at the UAPB Soccer Field.