HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – In a season that could best be described as he who scores first scores best, Alabama A&M (2-5-0, 0-0-0 SWAC) continued a stretch of seven shutouts as they fell 1-0 to Arkansas-Little Rock (3-3-2, 0-0-0 OVC) in an NCAA Division I women's soccer game on Wednesday, September 14.
 
In an odd twist, every one of the Bulldogs' games this year has been a shutout, one way or the other, with the club allowing more than one goal just twice. They've notched 1-0 shutouts over Troy (8/22) and Jacksonville State (8/26) while three of their losses have come by that same margin, all of those in their last four.
 
It would be another one of those games where defense would travel but offense would be at a premium for both teams. The Trojans would fire off six shots in the first half to A&M's one but would only connect on one, that coming in the 15^th minute. That would be fitting as No. 15 Amaya Arias came out of a scrum in front of the net, collected the ball and got it to just trickle over the line into the right corner for a 1-0 lead at 14:07.
 
UALR would keep up the pressure with a shot on net in the 39^th minute that required a save and followed that with a rifle by Bronte Peel that banged off the crossbar just over a minute later at 39:59. They would add another that senior goalkeeper Laura Jansa (Barcelona, Spain) corralled at 43:36 before the teams headed to the break with that one goal margin.
 
Both teams came out firing in the second half as Mari Young went wide right for Little Rock, senior forward Makayla Rushing (Red Oak, Texas) put a header on frame, Chardonnae Harvey fired high, junior midfielder Anouck Heyer (Bornheim, Germany) made Peyton Urban make a save, as did Jessie Vaden on Jansa. All of that within a span of six and a half minutes, capping at 64:36.
 
Following that flurry there would be just four shots the rest of the way, all by the Trojans, as they put three on frame on their way to closing out the narrow 1-0 victory.
 
A&M managed just three shots on the day, with Heyer and Rushing each putting one on net and Jansa went the distance, making seven saves and allowing the lone score. She falls to 2-5 on the year.
 
Arias led Arkansas-Little Rock with three shots, all on frame and one in the net, while Peel had three shots, two requiring saves. Urban played all 90 minutes between the pipes, needing to make just two saves on the way to the 1-0 shutout.
 
Following the briefest of "homestands", the Bulldogs hit the road again and will not return until the first week of October. That stretch begins with their final non-conference outing as they travel to UT-Martin on Sunday, September 18. Game time is set for 1 p.m. in Martin, Tennessee.