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by: Sam Bowers, Football/Girls Soccer

The Lady Rams coming off a 4-0 win over Bentonville West traveled to Tulsa Union on Tuesday night to face a familiar face.

The Rams battling a strong wind got off to a great start but missed several early opportunities to score a goal. Union countered and put 2 goals in the net to take a 2-0 lead going into halftime. The Rams got a great performance from goalkeeper Kimora Tisdale to keep the score close during the first half. She had 7 saves at the half.

At the half, we simply challenged our kids to fight back. This is the type of team we have to compete against in order to be successful this year, The Rams came out and scored a goal about 20 minutes in, Chloe Wilkins picked off a rebound in the box to tally her first goal of the season. The assist came off a corner kick from Olivia Kucharski. The Lady Rams were not done and scored another goal with about 6 minutes left of the game. Senior Chlow Wilkins got her second goal of the night from Abby Davis. The defense was able to hold Union scoreless the entire second half.

At the end of regulation, the score was tied 2-2 which means it is shootout time.  The Lady Rams shot first and freshman Kynlie Wilson scored to make it 1-0. Union shot and scored their first one to make it 1-1 after round 1.  Chloe Wilkins stepped up and scored to make it 2-1. Kimora Tisdale made a save from the Union shooter and the Rams were leading 2-1 after 2 rounds. Soph Amilia Sinor made the third shot and Union also made their shot to make it 3-2 after the third shooter. Owasso missed their fourth shot and Union tird it up 3-3 after the fourth shooter. Senior Emma Russell stepped up and made her shot and GK made a save on Unions fifth shooter to give the Rams the 4-3 shootout win. After Tisdale made the save the Lady Rams sprinted across the field and dog piled Tisdale in celebration.

Overall I am pleased with the victory but I am most proud of the fact we were able to fight back from a 0-2 deficit at the half. I think that showed alot of character from the kids. This team is growing and will continue to have highs and lows. We are very young and still learning to play together. Losing a year together was really tough with creating the bond we need to play together. Each team is different year to year and this team is still learning what our identity is going to be together. Hopefully we took a step forward tonight and will continue to improve each week. We have had to deal with limited practice time with quarantines, injuries and various setbacks.

I think I got some solid games out of Emelie Rhein, Cierra Gann and Camdyn Wagner along with several others tonight. We will hit the road on Friday to travel to Fayetteville before starting our spring break next week.