cover story WWW.OBUSIGNAL.COM | PAGE 3
On the cover: Senior Meagan North carries the Great American Conference championship trophy out to where the rest of the team is celebrating. The Tigers won their second conference championship in program history on April 17, 2021. On this page: The Tigers relish in their victory over the Bison, holding the trophy together. The team fought hard to win the championship. (photos courtesy of Ouachita Athletics)
Earning it: Women’s soccer wins GAC trophy BY RYAN YORK Staff Writer
Kicking the game-winning goal is more stressful than you would think. At least, that’s what freshman Frankie Nine found out during the Great American Conference championship a couple of weeks ago. The Tigers faced off against the Oklahoma Baptist University Bison, and Nine’s overtime goal brought the trophy home for the team. Ouachita’s defense worked hard to block every shot the Bison put up. The Tigers stood tall with Michele Snow as their goalie, who kept the score tied at 0-0. Throughout the game, the teams battled strong winds that threw the ball off course and made passing more difficult. As the regular
clock ran out, both teams’ captains stepped up to the center of the field for a coin toss to choose their sides of the field for overtime. “When Meagan [North] won the coin toss and we got the wind, I felt confident,” junior midfielder Jaymee Dotson said. “There was a momentum change: ours went up and OkBU’s went down.” The score was still tied at 0-0 toward the end of the first overtime, when sophomore midfielder Gracen Turner took a shot. From there, Ouachita was set up with the last chance in that overtime to score from a corner kick. Nine got ready for the kick after getting some advice from Head Coach Kevin Wright. “Kevin goes, ‘Take your time. Give us a good ball,’” Nine said. “But I did not take my time, I felt
rushed. We were in the last minute of the first overtime, so I had to go fast.” Lining up, Nine kicked the ball inside the box with a slight curve to it. Since her last corner attempt had been unsuccessful, the team held its breath. “I think everyone thought it was going out of bounds,” Nine said. The ball cut past the Bison defense and crossed the goal line in the final minute of the game, giving Ouachita the 1-0 lead and the championship. Dotson and the others charged Nine, while the rest of the team rushed to the seniors. Most of the team was in tears, realizing that they achieved what they had been working toward. Just getting to the championship was not easy, though. The team
faced many challenges along the way because of COVID-19. “COVID affected us tremendously. There were a lot of new rules we had to follow during practice,” Dotson said. “Some weeks we would only have around eight girls at practice because others would get sent home to quarantine.” At the beginning of the fall semester, the team had to incorporate social distancing into its practices. This gave the Tigers time to focus on formation and passing, but it did not allow them to practice other aspects of the game. “Make sure you earned it” became Coach Wright’s goto phrase during practices. The Tigers pushed through socially distanced practices and intrasquad
scrimmages to start their season. However, these challenges proved crucial in creating the team that won the championship. Normally, the players would only have a couple of weeks to practice together before the start of the season. This year, the team had the opportunity to practice together for a whole semester before having any games, giving the freshmen time to build chemistry with the other players. The delay to the season allowed the Tigers to come into the spring as one unit. During this season, the Tigers overcame different obstacles and opponents, pushing themselves to the tournament, where they won in the final minute of the championship game. It’s fair to say they definitely earned it.
