UA soccer restarts sports on campus

FAYETTEVILLE -- It has been 192 days since there was a sporting event on the University of Arkansas campus.

Barring a last-minute postponement, that streak will end today at Razorback Field when the Arkansas soccer team hosts LSU at 3 p.m. in the season opener for both teams. The game will be televised by SEC Network.

The last game hosted by any Razorback team was March 11 when Arkansas defeated Grand Canyon in a baseball game at Baum-Walker Stadium. The SEC suspended all sports due to the coronavirus pandemic the following day, and has not had any competitions until the scheduled restart for soccer and cross country teams this weekend.

The Razorbacks are the reigning SEC regular-season champions and were picked earlier this week by league coaches to win the conference again.

"I think our fan base is growing and there are going to be a lot of eyes on this around the country, around Arkansas," ninth-year Arkansas Coach Colby Hale said. "This is the first event in a long time, and we want to start on the right foot. We want [the players] to feel the weight of that a little bit."

This is the first time the Razorbacks have been picked to win the SEC. Last year, Arkansas was predicted to finish sixth, but went 8-1-1 in conference play as part of a 17-4-2 campaign that included a victory in the NCAA Tournament.

The Razorbacks return five All-SEC players from that team, including its three leading scorers, sophomore Anna Podojil and seniors Parker Goins and Taylor Malham. Arkansas also returns All-SEC defenders in senior Haley VanFossen and sophomore Bryana Hunter.

"I will tell you Saturday at 5 p.m. how I feel about this team," Hale said. "We like the players, but there are so many unknowns. There are unknowns in recruiting and unknowns because we haven't played anyone. We've said to this team, 'No one cares what we did last year and no one cares where we were picked in the preseason. This team is going to make their own story.' "

The Razorbacks were supposed to play two exhibition games before the middle of August and begin the season Aug. 20 with a road swing against ACC powers North Carolina and Duke.

Those plans were scrapped when the SEC limited its teams to play eight conference games after an extended preseason.

"We're ready to play a game against other people," VanFossen said. "This is something we've been looking forward to for a while because of this delayed season."

Prior to the coronavirus shutdown, Arkansas was able to get in a scrimmage against Iowa on Feb. 29 in St. Louis. The Razorbacks won 2-0, and Hale said the experience was beneficial.

"We played a new keeper and had a couple of freshmen who were able to come in early, and it was great for them," Hale said.

Arkansas must replace graduated All-SEC goalkeeper Katie Lund, who started a school-record 13 shutouts last season. Hale said either redshirt senior Taylor Beitz or redshirt junior Alexis Bach will start in goal against LSU.

Kayla McKeon, a fifth-year senior who made the All-SEC Tournament team in 2018, returns to the team after missing last season with an ankle injury. She will be joined in the midfield by freshman Ellie Podojil, who Hale said will start against LSU.

Ellie Podojil is the younger sister of Anna Podojil, who was the 2019 SEC newcomer of the year when she scored a team-high 14 goals.