ALL-STAR GIRLS SOCCER: Fed-up East team turns up pressure

FAYETTEVILLE — The East won’t go winless in 2010.

The East All-Stars controlled the ball and pretty much everything else Tuesday in a 4-0 victory against the West in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association All-Star girls soccer game at Razorback Field.

The East team’s victory prevents another clean sweep after the West won every game in every sport during last year’s All-Star week.

“I pulled the girls aside and asked them, ‘Don’t you get tired of the West being the best at everything?’ ” said Bryant’s Julie Long, the East coach. “The girls were pretty pumped to play. We outplayed them from top to bottom. They played well together as a team, and they deserve it.”

Once play started, there was no doubt which was the better team. The West team had the first shot on goal, but then the East came on like waves crashing against the West zone.

The East had 13 scoring chances in the first half compared to the West’s one, and the East finished with a 24-3 advantage in shots. Even with all the opportunities, the East didn’t score until an attack in the 30th minute by MVP Kendra Hendrix of Little Rock Central.

Hendrix took a pass from Cabot’s Callie Anderson and swiftly pushed the ball deep behind the West defenders to get a 1-on-1 matchup against West goalie Lydnsey Czapansky of Siloam Springs.

Hendrix didn’t rush, dribbling to the left side of the box, drawing Czapansky out of the net and forcing her to commit to a block attempt. When Czapansky hit the ground in desperation, Hendrix moved around her and sent the ball in the right side of the net for a 1-0 lead.

“We didn’t think we were going to beat them 4-0, but we thought we had a good team,” said Hendrix, who plans to walk on at Vanderbilt. “We were going to take it to them.”

The East scored another goal in the 59th minute when Hendrix took the ball into the right corner, deked a defender and centered a pass to Searcy’s McKenzie Clark. Clark drilled a shot into the left corner of thenet past West keeper Anna-Lee Pittman of Little Rock Christian.

The East added two more goals in the final 5:19. Ashley Barksdale of Mount St. Mary beat Czapansky for a 3-0 lead with a fake, a move and a shot with 5:19 left.

With three minutes left, Episcopal Collegiate’s Gracie Sorge centered a pass from the right corner that Czapansky got a hand on to deflect. But it deflected to a waiting Andrea Hasik of Paragould, and Hasik gave the East a 4-0 lead.