Oklahoma Soccer Defeats Arkansas 3-1

The Sooners continued their success over the University of Arkansas on Friday evening at John Crain Field with a 3-1 victory over the visiting Lady'Backs. OU is now 5-0 in the program's history against Arkansas thanks to Logan Womack and Lauren MacIver, who propelled the Sooners in the 2003 season opener.

The senior forward Womack got things started at the 17:29 mark, when she got a pass at the top right side of the box and made a spectacular turn on the ball, freeing herself to blast a shot past Arkansas goalie Carrie Dillsaver. The assist on the play came from Kristin Vesely, which put OU up 1-0 in the first half.

Sixteen minutes later it was Womack again contributing on offense as she setup sophomore midfielder Lauren MacIver off a perfect through ball threading the Lady'Back's midfield and enabling MacIver to start a breakaway. That breakaway found MacIver one-on-one with an Arkansas defender, which she blew by and found the back of the net, beating the goalie on the far side from about 20 yards out.

After 45 minutes of action the Sooners found themselves on top 2-0 outshooting the Lady'Backs 7-4 on the half in front of 757 fans at John Crain Field at the OU Soccer Complex.

However, just five minutes into the second half, Arkansas narrowed the OU lead with a goal from Tina Burger who was unassisted on the play.

The OU offense kept plugging away at the opposing defense and it eventually paid off with a goal (64:52) off the foot of sophomore forward Michelle Enos. Enos was put into the position to score off a great feed from MacIver who recorded her third point of the contest. MacIver collected three points in a game for the first time in her Sooner career.

The score potentially could have been larger, as Womack was denied twice by Dillsaver in goal. Womack finished the game with a goal and an assist and is now just five point shy of the school's points record held by 2002 graduate Krissy Dawson.

"Logan has been on the attack a long time here and she came in and attacked the entire defense and set the tone for the game," commented Evans. "The entire backline was solid on defense and that enabled us to take those chances on offense and it obviously paid off. "

The Sooners took advantage of their depth on offense by throwing all kinds of different looks at the Arkansas defense. In addition, Evans received solid play the defense in front of junior goalkeeper Catharine Wade. Wade finished the game allowing one goal and stopping four other Arkansas shots.

"That was the difference in the game, we were able to throw eight different forwards at them in the first half," said Oklahoma head coach Randy Evans. "Each combination gives us different strengths and weaknesses. In the second half we figured out which ones worked the best and it made us tough to beat."

With the win, OU jumps out to a 1-0 start on the season and will return to action on Sunday when the University of New Mexico comes to town for a 1 p.m. showdown. On Sunday fans that present their OU vs. North Texas football ticket stub will get a special $2 admission into the game and the first 250 fans through the gates will receive Sooner pom-poms.

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