The UALR Trojans soccer team continued to play the role of Cinderella in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament as they pulled another upset by defeating the fourth-seeded North Texas Mean Green 1-0 in the semifinals Thursday evening, earning a spot in Saturday’s championship game. It will mark the first time in the school’s history that the Trojans have played in the championship game. 

The Trojans, who entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, defeated Florida International 1-0 yesterday before sending North Texas home this afternoon by the same score.

For the second day in-a-row, junior goalkeeper Jane Picarelli kept a dangerous team at bay and earned the shutout victory, while earning seven saves.

“North Texas is a very dangerous team and they had chances to score but Jane did a great job for us,” said UALR head coach Freddy Delgado.

The Trojans offense had just five shots on the afternoon with four of those on goal. However, sophomore forward Christina Veasley, who was named First Team All-Sun Belt earlier this week, scored her 12th goal of the season after being served by teammate Alison Davis in the 29th minute.

“Christina does so many things for us that people don’t see,” said Delgado. “She inspires her teammates every day. Her goal was pure hard work.”

Picarelli and the UALR defense held off a 10-shot first half effort by the Mean Green and another four shots in the second half to finish off the upset bid.

Veasley, who had the goal, led the team with two shots each of which was on goal. Dana Pearson, Jacquelyn Paz and Taylor Gabbert each had one shot apiece.

Leading the offensive charge for North Texas was Kendall Juett with four shots and Kelli Lunsford, who finished the day with three shots with one on frame.

UALR will play either No. 2 Denver or No. 6 Arkansas State for the conference championship Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. (CST) at FAU Soccer Stadium.