Last-minute goal denied, Decatur loses by one in soccer to Life Way

DECATUR — A lastminute call by officials took away the tying run for the Lady Bulldogs in their game against the Life Way Christian Lady Warriors from Centerton Thursday night.

As the week began, the remarkable rise of the Decatur girls’ soccer program after a four-year absence saw the program fighting for second place in the 3A West conference with the very team it played on April 7, Life Way Christian.

The first half was anybody’s match as both teams attacked each other’s goal and, each time, excellent goaltending prevented any scoring until the last five minutes of the first half. A Life Way attack on the net produced the first score of the contest and the Lady Warriors’ first lead.

The next goal came at the 16:20 mark in the second half when the Lady Warriors went on the offensive once again, producing the second goal of the night. At this point, Life Way held a 2-0 lead over Decatur.

Just as it looked like the Lady Bulldogs would be shut out by the Lady Warriors, Decatur managed to score its first goal of the night with a little over eight minutes left in the match.

With around one minute left in the contest, a real battle took place in front of the Life Way goal with the ball bouncing around in front. Then one of the Decatur players kicked the ball into the corner of the net just behind the right goal post. It appeared to be a goal for the Lady Bulldogs, but officials had other ideas and disallowed it.

The Life Way Christian Lady Warriors went on to take the win, 2-1, over the Decatur Lady Bulldogs and second place in the conference. Decatur dropped into the number three spot in the conference race.