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Nelson Postgame Presser
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- Arkansas scored three goals in the first six minutes of the match and cruised to a 6-0 victory over visiting Missouri State here Friday in the opening round of the 2022 NCAA Women's Soccer Championship.
Jessica DeFilippo's three-goal performance highlighted a dominant effort by the No. 3-seeded Razorbacks.
Making their first NCAA Tournament appearance in five years, the Bears (12-7-2) entered play with 10 wins in their last 14 matches. But Arkansas was relentless in its attack, extending its early advantage to 4-0 by halftime and unleashing 36 total shots on the Missouri State defense.
MSU keeper
Camielle Day racked up a career-high 11 saves on the night and did her part to minimize the damage created by the Arkansas barrage. But the All-MVC junior faced a total of 17 shots on goal with the home side also volleying 17 corners her way.
Maddie Augustine's shot late in the first half was Missouri State's only official shot of the match.
"Arkansas is a great team," said Missouri State head coach
Kirk Nelson. "They came out fast. We expected that and had a game plan for it. We just fumbled through it a little bit in the first 15 minutes. In the second half, we changed our formation, and we were able to spread the field out a little bit. I'm proud of our team."
Arkansas netted a goal by Ava Tankersley 24 seconds into the match, then added scores by DeFilippo and Ellie Podojil in the sixth minute. DeFilippo tacked on another score in the 13
th minute to help Arkansas take a comfortable 4-0 lead into the break.
Missouri State was able to stabilize things in the second period, going toe-to-toe with the Razorbacks for the first 35 minutes of the final stanza before DeFilippo tacked on her third goal of the match in the 80
th minute.
UofA (12-3-4) advances to play Ohio State in the second round.
"I'm super proud of this team for fighting all the way to the end," said Nelson. "We never gave up and held our heads high representing Bear Nation. Thanks to all the seniors for leaving such a strong legacy. Go Bears."
Missouri State earned its way into this year's NCAA field of 64 with the Missouri Valley Conference's automatic bid. After finishing as runners-up in the MVC, the Bears downed Murray State, 1-0, in the MVC Tournament finals last weekend to cap a remarkable campaign in Nelson's first season at the helm.
MSU previously had made two NCAA Tournament appearances in its women's soccer history with postseason bids in 2000 and 2017.
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