Copyright Arkansas Online
FAYETTEVILLE -- Following a 2-0 loss to Duke on Aug. 28, University of Arkansas soccer Coach Colby Hale saw promise despite the defeat. "I thought we got better today," Hale said at the time. "When we win the SEC and we go to a Final Four, we're going to point to a game like this and say, 'This made us better.' " Those words proved prophetic Sunday. The party was underway well before Hale got doused with a postgame water bath, the red-and-white confetti flew or associate head coach Jon Harvey removed his shirt in celebration. With its 3-1 victory over Oklahoma at Razorback Field, No. 6 Arkansas clinched the SEC regular-season title for the fifth time since 2019. Aniyah Nurse-Whyte's header opened the scoring in the 39th minute, and Erin Bailey goal in the 43rd proved to be the winner. Natalie Wagner's finish into the bottom-left corner in the 83rd minute gave the announced crowd of 2,721 reason to begin the celebrations early. The Sooners scored through Juliette Rayo's 89th minute penalty. And with that, Hale's proclamation some 59 days prior came to fruition. "It's certainly gratifying," said Hale, still wet from his unplanned bath. "We played a tough, tough schedule. We kept saying, 'Hey, it's going to pay dividends. It's going to. We've just got to stay with it.' And they did, and that doesn't always happen. "Early on, we went through some funky stages in training and stuff, but we got on a roll. Vibes are high. I think they have big goals." Arkansas overcame one of the nation's most difficult schedules, five season-ending injuries with a flurry of others and some consistency issues early in the season prior to Sunday's title-winning performance. "I feel so good, seriously. This team, we've worked so hard and battled through so many adversities," Bailey said. "We'd just band together and choose to rise above it. It just feels so good to finally have a little bit of something to show for it, but we're not done yet." Arkansas entered the match needing to win in order to clinch the outright league title. A pair of 1-0 wins by Georgia over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt over South Carolina on Sunday meant the Razorbacks needed to win in order to finish ahead of both Mississippi State and Vanderbilt. The Sooners challenged the Razorbacks early, with Dejionee Anderson making an important block on a goal-bound shot when the match was scoreless. Anderson made several important defensive interventions. "All Colby talks about is winning, and we like winning," Anderson said. "That's why we do what we do and that's why we come out there every day and take practice like we're playing a game." Arkansas' title comes after losing more than 50% of its goal production from last season. The Razorbacks scored by committee, with no player having more than five goals this season. Bailey, who has been in and out of the lineup after transferring from BYU, smiled during the duration of her postgame interview. She spoke of dealing with her own consistency issues and mental health troubles but coming out the other end with the help of coaches and teammates. "It's amazing. I've gone through a lot this season," Bailey said. "Being able to have something to show for it is just so fun. ... It was just an electric feeling. I'm just happy that I could help win the title just like everyone else did. Everyone did their part." Arkansas now heads to Pensacola, Fla., for the SEC Tournament before the NCAA Tournament begins. The Razorbacks will likely host a first-round match in the national playoffs. Hale has built Arkansas into a consistent presence, and Sunday was the latest chapter in what has been a rich piece of Razorback soccer history. "We've lost generational players every year," Hale said. "People just keep stepping up. This team: super young, injured. All these other coaches make excuses, they just never did. ... I'm super proud of them." Beyond looking back at the team's growth and ahead to the next challenges, Sunday was simply about celebrating. "All the thoughts about the game are going to be thrown out the window because of the celebration," Hale said. "Winning SEC championships is something that not a lot of people do. ... They earned that one, for sure."
