The Lady Bison soccer team ended its season with a 4-0 loss to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in the semifinals of the Great American Conference Tournament on Friday, Nov. 2.
With their season over, the Lady Bisons are 7-9-2 overall and 4-5-1 in conference play.
The SWOSU Bulldogs were ranked No. 18 with an 18-0-1 overall record and 9-0-1 conference record after its regular season and were the No. 1 seed in the GAC Tournament.
The Lady Bisons frustrated the Bulldogs throughout the first half of the game, according to head coach Greg Harris, allowing their opponent to score only once.
“We started out and actually outplayed them, I thought, for the first part of that game, and we did real well,” Harris said.
However, the Bulldogs played harder in the second half, scoring three more points to win the game. Eighty-three minutes in, junior forward Jenna Taylor made Harding’s only shot of the game, which was blocked by SWOSU.
“It wasn’t anything that we did wrong,” Harris said. “It was the fact that I think they just came out stronger. We weren’t able to really counter that; we never got into a rhythm.”
Taylor said Harding executed its game plan well and played to its strengths.
Harris said the team needs to improve in its possession of the ball, defense and speed. He also said he will be returning 20 of his players next season, and that will give the team more experience; currently, only about one-third of the 22 players are upperclassmen. Still, Harris said he is proud of what the Lady Bisons accomplished this fall.
“I feel good about (this season) because we got better,” Harris said. “We were way better than we were last year. We were much improved from an overall team standpoint.”
Taylor and junior defender Hannah Hatcher were both named to the All-GAC team on Oct. 31, Taylor for the first time of her career and Hatcher for the second.
Taylor said she was glad to be named to the All-GAC team, but that it was a team effort on the part of the Lady Bisons that got her there.
“It’s an honor, but I feel like it should be for the whole team,” Taylor said. “I wouldn’t have success without my team, so mostly I just want to give credit to my team.”
Harris said he is optimistic about the upcoming season because his team will have more experience next year.
“I would love to win 10 games or more,” Harris said. “This team is going to be capable. The competition is going to be tough; I don’t schedule easy, but iron sharpens iron.”
