Arkansas women’s soccer team dominates Arkansas State in season opener
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 8 Arkansas women’s soccer team scored five minutes into the match and didn’t look back as the Razorbacks blanked Arkansas State 6-0 in their season opener.
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — No. 8 Arkansas women’s soccer team scored five minutes into the match and didn’t look back as the Razorbacks blanked Arkansas State 6-0 in their season opener.
All six goals were scored by different Razorbacks (10), including first-time scorer freshman Patricia Tsokos.
In goal, junior Sierra Cota-Yarde made her first start for the Hogs and also converted a penalty kick in the 54th minute. Cota-Yarde is no stranger to the task, having taken a penalty in two shootouts last season.
Arkansas’ first goal of the 2023 campaign was scored by sophomore forward Ainsley Erzen. Erzen started the match at midfielder and was there to pick up freshman Avery Wren’s shot that ricocheted off the post.
The Hogs were blessed with an own goal by Arkansas State in the 11th minute and went up 2-0.
The last two goals of the first half were scored within two minutes of each other. First up, veteran midfielder Bea Franklin scored in the 39th minute. The goal, made possible by a booming free kick from defender Emilee Hauser, is Franklin’s first scored with her feet as a Hog.
Tsokos followed up in the 41st minute with a textbook header on a ball from defender Margot Reemtsen to send the Razorbacks up 4-0 on 22 shots.
Senior forward Kiley Dulaney followed Cota-Yarde’s made PK and finished the night off with a gritty goal, in which she had to come face-to-face with the Red Wolves’ goalkeeper. Dulaney won the ball and knocked it in for her first goal back since missing the 2022 season due to injury.
Arkansas finished the match with 34 shots and held Arkansas State to seven.
“It’s early in the season, but there’s some details we need to clean up for sure,” Arkansas coach Colby Hale said. “They are details, right? Those things will come. We’ve got a lot of young and new faces out there, and some of the sets aren’t super organized, so we’ve got to just clean some stuff up.”
The Hogs will return to the pitch to face Oregon at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Six players named to SEC Preseason Watch List No. 8 Arkansas soccer team had six Razorbacks named to the Southeastern Conference Preseason Watch List, the league announced last week.
Graduates Bea Franklin and Anna Podojil, seniors Kiley Dulaney, Ellie Podojil and Ava Tankersley and sophomore Makenzie Malham were each named players to watch this season. It’s Anna Podojil’s fourth straight appearance on the list, followed by Franklin’s and Ellie Podojil’s second. Tankersley, Dulaney and Malham joined the list for the first time in their careers.
Franklin, a midfielder, enters the 2023 season after starting in all 22 matches last fall. She netted five goals and notched one assist to earn Second Team All-SEC honors. In May, Franklin graduated with a degree in finance and elected to return for her final year of eligibility.
Anna Podojil, the most decorated player in program history, is coming off a historic season in which she set the school’s goals, points and game-winning goals records. She was named first-team All-SEC for the fourth time in her career and earned her fourth United Soccer Coaches All-America honor.
Dulaney returns to the pitch after she missed her junior season due to injury. The forward last saw action in 2021 and started in 17 matches in the season Arkansas last won the SEC regular season title. She netted three goals and assisted in four for a total of 1,246 minutes played.
Ellie Podojil, another one of the Hogs’ second-team All-SEC honorees from 2022, finished her junior campaign with three goals, including one in Arkansas’ Elite 8 run. A mainstay in the midfield last season, Podojil logged 1,670 minutes and notched four assists.
Tankersley, a key contributor to Arkansas’ attack, led last year’s squad with 12 assists, good for the sixth-most nationally. She led the SEC in shot-on-goal percentage (.627) and found the back of the net nine times. Tankersley was named SEC Offensive Player of the Week and earned secondteam All-SEC honors for the first time in her career.
Malham, the youngest of the Razorbacks’ players to watch, was named to the SEC All-Freshman team in her first season and finished the year as the No. 49 ranked freshman in the country by TopDrawerSoccer. She started in 17 of 18 matches played and both of her goals were gamewinners.
Earlier this week, Arkansas was picked as the preseason favorite to win the SEC title by the league’s head coaches.
