Kinsey’s brace leads Arkansas to home win over Omaha

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas junior Marissa Kinsey recorded her first career brace, scoring in the 57th minute and 86th minute, to lead the Razorback soccer team to a 2-0 win over Nebraska-Omaha.

The match was the Razorbacks’ home opener of the 2018 season and Arkansas improves to 2-0-1. Nebraska-Omaha falls to 0-2-1.

Kinsey, a transfer from Baylor, scored her first goal of the match off an attempted clearance from the keeper.

Kinsey redirected the ball into the back of the net for the 1-nil lead. Kinsey was not done for the night as her second goal not only secured the win, it was her first career brace off an assist from Parker Goins.

With the win tonight, Arkansas has won nine out the last 10 in home openers, dating back to 2009, and head coach Colby Hale’s third in the last four years.

Kinsey is the first Razorback to score two goals in a match since Stefani Doyle at Providence last year (Sept. 10, 2017).

From Head Coach Colby Hale

“We were good in some areas tonight. I thought we were much better in the second half than we were in the first. There might have been some nerves in the first half being that this was the first home game, but they were pretty amped up. We’re not conceding a lot of shots so far this year, as well as goals. On the attacking end, we probably need to fix a few things. Overall, winning in college is not easy and we were able to win tonight.”

From Marissa Kinsey

“I had been playing her (UNO goalkeeper) in a few times. I noticed she put the ball down as was looking up at the field and losing sight of the ball. A couple times after that I was trying to figure out when was a good time to go after it. When I finally got it, I got a little lucky. It was an effort play.” – Marissa Kinsey on her first goal

“Our whole team just grinds it out. We do whatever it takes to win. We’re an effort and hard-working team. We’re just taking small windows of opportunities and trying to capitalize.” – Marissa Kinsey on the team’s effort tonight

How It Went Down

4th minute – Arkansas nearly got one on the board quickly after the start of the match as Taylor Malham’s header from near point-blank range just missed getting by the keeper. Much of the first half was a possession battle, but Arkansas held the shot advantage 14-1 after the first 45 minutes.

57th minute – Kinsey lit up the scoreboard on her heads-up play 12 minutes into the second half when Omaha’s keeper was trying to clear the ball away. Kinsey raced back to the attacking end and was able to deflect the ball past Ina Gudjonsdottir to put the Hogs up 1-0.

86th minute – Kinsey secured her brace with four minutes to go in the match after sophomore Parker Goins set up a perfect cross from the left side. Kinsey one-timed the shot past the final defender and the keeper to double the lead.

Other Key Notes

• Sophomore goalkeeper Rachel Harris picked up her second win in three matches, making two saves for her second shutout of the season.

• For the second time this year, the Arkansas defense allowed two shots or less as Omaha only managed the two attempts on Friday, one in each half.

• Taylor Malham was on target for four of her five shots in Friday’s win.

• After leading the team with 25 points a year ago, sophomore Parker Goins picked up her first point of the 2018 season tonight, earning the assist on Marissa Kinsey’s second goal.

Up Next

Arkansas goes back on the road for its next match when it travels to McNeese State on Sunday for a 4 p.m. first kick. The match will be televised by Cox Sports and ESPN+.