NORTH LITTLE ROCK — With their latest trophy, Central Arkansas Christian’s Lady Mustangs have now won more state soccer championships than any other team in Arkansas.
Carter Lambert’s Lady Mustangs knocked off Harding Academy, 7-1, to win the Class 3A crown last month to mark their ninth, and fourth consecutive, title.
With this trophy, CAC broke a tie with the Bentonville girls, who won their eighth state title in 2017. Harrison has won seven girls titles; De Queen, Searcy and Harrison have won six boys titles apiece.
“We are really proud of making seven championship games in the past eight years, but we are even prouder of our winning percentage (86 percent) in championship games,” Lambert said, adding that the Lady Mustangs have prevailed in three classifications — Class 3A, 4A and 5A.
Four-year starter Claire Vest was named MVP of the state tournament.
“Our team had a great year on and off the field,” she said. “We are all super close and could count on each other for anything. That closeness is part of the reason for our success over the years.”
Lambert said another factor in that success has obviously been a core of outstanding players.
“I like to tell people that I am essentially just the bus driver, and that isn’t far from the truth; however, we aren’t the only team to have had excellent talent,” he said.
“We believe what makes the difference for us is focusing more on the process than the results. We are committed to each other and a culture that emphasizes team success over individual success. The girls love each other, talk about our team as a family and really want to glorify God in all they do.”
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The numbers have been stunning.
The Lady Mustangs finished 11-2 in 2019 by a combined score of 79-11, an average score of 6-(.8). They recorded nine shutouts.
After opening the season with a 3-2 loss at Arkadelphia — its first loss since 2016 — CAC won the next four games before falling to Pulaski Academy, 6-0. The Lady Mustangs then finished on a seven-game winning streak.
“Our inexperience initially hurt us in our two losses,” Lambert said. “We lost to Arkadelphia, playing without several key team members because of basketball and other commitments, but it was a good loss in that our younger players had an opportunity to play a lot and gain valuable experience.
“PA is an outstanding team with a great coach. We missed a chance or two and had to make some adjustments due to missing a key player. Our lack of experience in really competitive games and on defense showed. They overwhelmed us the first half. It was another really beneficial experience for our entire team, but especially for our younger players. As a result, we got better and only gave up two goals the rest of the season.”
The 2019 success was built on the foundation of the past. In 2018, CAC finished 19-0, allowing just four goals all season. In 2017, the Lady Mustangs were 18-0-1. In 2016, they went 16-4-1.
Lambert said defense in 2019 was a key.
“We lost several key members from our 2018 squad in central midfield and defense,” he said. “We only had four goals scored on us last year. I was a little concerned about filling that void, but we returned an outstanding keeper in senior Madyson Bowman and two key defenders, junior Kelly Chism and senior Molly Nickell.
“Freshman Stella Smith stepped in as sweeper, a critical position in our system, and she exceeded all my expectations for her. Another freshman, Aven Burton, slotted in as our defensive midfielder. She was as good as any midfielder in our classification. Both of them got stronger and stronger as the year progressed.”
Vest, a senior central midfielder, was a major reason the Lady Mustangs were able to integrate their new players as quickly as they did, Lambert said.
“She has been a quiet leader and the core of our team since her freshman year and consistently displayed great field vision, decision-making ability and maturity,” he said.
Vest said the past four years have been amazing.
“I have played center-mid my whole high school career and loved every part of it,” she said. “I love making the perfect pass for my forwards to run on to, and I enjoy being able to read the game and make plays happen.”
Offensively, the Lady Mustangs returned their top three scorers from last year in senior attacking midfielder Lauren Johnson, senior forward McKenna Moore and sophomore forward Bethany Dillard.
“They each scored more than 20 goals this year, even though we played significantly fewer games because of scheduling challenges,” Lambert said. “They provided a great combination of speed, strength and technical ability, combined with unselfishness. If a team focused on one of them, it just provided more opportunities for the other two. We had the ability to score a lot of goals in a short period of time. That is probably the main reason the mercy rule was put into effect in our last three championship games. We have had some really explosive offensive players.”
The other starters were senior Kaitlyn Childers, described by Lambert as “excellent technically and really versatile,” and sophomore Ellie Dalby, who “is great defensively with a knack for making offensive runs at the right time,” the coach said.
Lambert said Hallie Diles, a senior, and Abby Vest, a sophomore, both utility players, could have been starters. They played multiple positions.
“A newcomer, junior Kimberly Silva-Nash, also added to our team depth and gave us additional options at outside mid and defender,” he said. “We had a large group of supporting freshmen in Danielle McCauley, Magdalen Moore, Rachel Rossi, Reese Shepard and Ellie Welch. They were joined by sophomores Sophie Miller, Sydney Musticchi and Regan Rabb, and senior Riley Shepard.”
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In the state tournament, the Lady Mustangs were the top seed from the 3A-Central Conference. They rolled to four victories by a combined score of 27-2. They knocked off Haskell Harmony Grove in the opening round, 8-0; Lincoln in the quarterfinals, 7-0; and Baptist Prep in the mud in the semis, 5-1; before moving on to the championship game at the University of Arkansas’ Razorback Field to face Harding Academy, a team they’d beaten by 6-0 earlier in the season.
This time, they won, 7-1.
“The final was probably our worst-executed game,” Lambert said. “I attribute that to Harding Academy. They played with a lot of intensity and were very well prepared. I probably went to the extreme in trying to keep the girls from being overconfident.
“We started off playing way too defensively and had a big gap between our attackers and defenders. Once we adjusted, became more compact and played our regular game, we scored pretty quickly. I think we scored five of our first-half goals in about a 12-minute span. That essentially killed the game off.”
Harding Academy, a first-year program, was coached by Falan Miller Francis, a CAC alum who was a key member of Lambert’s first championship team.
Claire Vest’s soccer career is now over.
“I could not have had a better ending,” she said. “Winning the state championship four years in a row is something that shouldn’t be taken for granted. We have been so lucky to have such amazing players and coaches to help us with such success.”