Lady Bisons take fourth conference sweep against Central Arkansas

The Lady Bisons wrapped up their last home game this afternoon, 2-0 against the Central Arkansas Bears, to remain undefeated in the ASUN. The game win also brought home Head Coach Kevin O’Brien’s 150th career win with the Bisons.

The Bisons started off strong against the Bears, racking up two goals less than 15 minutes into regulation time. The first was brought in by junior midfielder Hailey Johnson, with assists by freshman forward Skylar Cole and sophomore midfielder Tatum Ahlemeyer. This was Johnson’s eighth goal of the season and it gave the Bisons an early edge on the Bears.

Following hot on her heels was sophomore midfielder London De Fini, who put the ball in the net less than 30 seconds later. This was De Fini’s first goal of the season, and celebratory chaos momentarily ensued.

Though the Bisons wouldn’t score another goal, they didn’t need to. With sophomore goalkeeper Kaïna Cesar defending the net, racking up three saves in the second half, the Bears would remain at zero.

At the end of regulation time, the Bisons and the Bears gathered on the field in a large huddle. Bowing their heads, they gave glory to God as Bisons’ graduate student defender Lauren Bennett led them all in prayer.

The celebrations continued after the game, the Bisons “ambushing” O’Brien with a water cooler. Laughter echoed across the field as the girls poured its contents over his head, all smiles.

“There’s no team I’d rather share this milestone with than y’all,” he told the girls. “This really doesn’t even feel like a job.”

“It’s incredible, to hit milestones with kids that you genuinely love being a part of their lives, it’s amazing,” he told Herd Media. “And then to hit milestones when you’re at a place where you can say our platform is glorifying God, and wins come at a distant second. But they’re comin’ because we’ve got amazing girls that have hearts for bigger things than just the game of soccer. It makes it extra special.”

The game against Central Arkansas was the Lady Bisons’ last home game for the regular season. The team will face three more road games before the close of the season, taking on Austin Peay, Bellarmine and EKU. Following that will be the ASUN Championship, where they’ll face teams from the Graphite Division, a new setup in ASUN Soccer. The Bisons are a member of the Gold Division.

Last year, the Lady Bisons brought home rings from the Championship. This year, said O’Brien, they’ll be looking to do it again.

Yet before the Bisons can get to the tournament, they have three more teams to take on. The Bisons are 3-3 on the road, 6-0-1 in the ASUN, and O’Brien said they’ll be looking for consistency as they move forward toward the Championship.

“Even though we tied North [Alabama] on Thursday, I thought we played really well, and I thought there were a lot of goals we left on the table. So we’ve been creating them, we’ve been scoring them,” O’Brien said. “If we can just keep doing what we’re doing, road or not road, I feel like our chances are great.”

The Bisons’ next game will be on the road, against Austin Peay, at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, October 19th.

Featured image of the Bisons and Bears coming together to pray taken by Micah Barkley.