BAUXITE, Ark. – The Warren Lady Jacks fell to the Dardanelle Lady Sand Lizards on the soccer pitch Thursday in the opening round of the 4A State Playoffs by the final of 4-0 to end their season.
Warren’s girls had to battle not only heavy rain Thursday, but a 9:00 a.m. start, which meant a very early morning to make the hour and a half drive to Bauxite for the match.
Top photo: Anna Arroyo duels with a Dardanelle defender during the first half of Thursday’s match.
By Rob Reep
Saline River Chronicle
This Lady Jack match report is brought to you by:
Dardanelle’s Lady Sand Lizards put pressure on Warren’s defense from the early minutes onward. The Champs of the 4A West were certainly a difficult opponent, and they delivered on the promise of their seeding in the 20th minute with a cutting run through the middle and placing a shot just beyond the outstretched arms of Warren’s keeper Valeria Navarro.
Seven minutes later the Lady Sand Lizards notched their second of the game. This time from a corner kick that was toe-poked just beyond Navarro. They would add another just before the halftime break to make it 3-0.
Warren put in some hard work on the defensive end in the second half, and did quite a bit to shut down the Dardanelle threat. Warren’s ace goalscorer Azul Garcia even moved into the midfield to absorb the pressure. However, as the defense shored itself up, Warren’s offensive threat dissipated.
Dardanelle scored a fourth in the 69th minute.
Garcia had three pretty descent chances that were all saved late on, but the Lady Jacks fell by the final of 4-0.
Warren finishes the season with an overall record of 6-6. They finished the 4A East Conference in fourth place with a record of 4-3.