LORMAN, Miss. - After falling 4-2 to Arkansas-Pine Bluff on Friday afternoon, freshman Mireya Gonzalez and redshirt-sophomore Rita Okoro netted a pair of first-half goals as the Lady Braves earned a 2-0 conference victory over Grambling State Sunday afternoon at Jack Spinks-Marino Casem Stadium.
"We had a team talk and I believe everyone looked within themselves and recognized that they weren't giving their best, and today, more than any game we've played so far, everyone was playing for the next person," said head coach Junior Noel. "We haven't put a game together for 90 minutes like we did today, and in past games we can hang with the best of them, but we only play in buts and pieces. Today we played with intensity, we played with passion, we played with drive, we played with determination and we got the result that we needed."
Okoro finished the weekend with three goals on 10 shots (six on goal) and an assist. With the score in today's match, the Nigerian native tied her own program record for most goals scored in a season with eight. Her 16 career goals places her second on Alcorn's all-time scoring list behind Ashley Rankin (2005-08) with 22.
Arkansas-Pine Bluff | L, 4-2
Okoro put Alcorn on the board in the 22nd minute Friday as she beat the goalie with a one-on-one effort. The lead was short-lived, though, as the Lady Lions (2-11-1, 2-5-1 SWAC) pressed a ball from the right side and scored the equalizer in the 27th. The guests added two more goals in the 34th and 43rd minutes to take a 3-1 advantage at the break.
In the second half, Pine Bluff took a free kick from 25 yards out that found the top left corner of the net to push its lead to 4-1 (68th minute). Okoro then bookended the Lady Lion's offensive effort with a back kick within the penalty box (89th minute).
Grambling State | W, 2-0
Alcorn struck early against the Lady Tigers (8-7-1, 6-2-1 SWAC), with Gonzalez capitalizing on a saved shot that rebounded back into the middle in the 10th minute. Seven minutes later, Gonzalez took a shot from the right that stayed in front of the net and was controlled by Anjelica Dugan. The sophomore then set up Okoro, who drilled it to the back left of the net.
"It upsets their game plan and it demoralizes them a little bit," added Noel on getting the early lead. "It kind of demotivates them. In the past, teams have come in here expecting to walk over us and I believe they came in a little overconfident knowing that we haven't won a league game in quite a while. But we had our own plans today."
Grambling pressed the attack throughout the second half, taking 17 shots to Alcorn's three, but could not break through Alcorn's back line. Proby recorded 11 saves in the second 45 minutes en route to earning her second career shutout. The McDonough, Ga. native set season highs with 12 saves on 20 shots faced and improves to 3-6 this season.
Sunday's win over the Lady Tigers marks the third in the all-time series and is the first since a 2-1 decision on Oct. 19, 2012.
The Lady Braves travel to Southern University on Tuesday for a 4 p.m. meeting with the Lady Jaguars. The team then concludes the regular season ay home Friday with a 4 p.m. game against Mississippi Valley State. The match marks Senior Night for the Lady Braves.
#FearTheBrave
