MALVERN -- Lake Hamilton managed to avoid a loss with a goal midway through the second half, and Malvern kept an even keel after its first match with both teams recording their first draw.
The Lady Leopards (0-0-1) struggled early as the Lady Wolves (3-0-1) kept the ball on the offensive end for the first 10 minutes of the half.
Lake Hamilton had eight shots in the first 10 minutes alone, but Malvern finally found its feet after a boot from a defender sailed over the heads of Lake Hamilton's back line.
Faith Harmon had the first shot on goal for the Lady Leopards after Lady Wolves goalkeeper Alexis Rowland was unable to stop the heavy-footed return from Malvern's defense. Rowland scrambled back in time to snag Harmon's cross-body left-footed shot to avoid the early deflating goal.
Lake Hamilton had a big shot on goal in the 16th minute as Kaili Clark had a crossing attempt, but Malvern keeper Yelena Hogan dropped low for the save. Malvern finally got on the scoreboard with its first goal of the season as captain Jessica Cunningham found the back of the net off a right-footed attempt from 10 yards off the left goalpost with 13:56 left in the first half.
"(She's a) senior captain," Malvern head coach Seth Roberts said. "A girl that's been playing her whole life. You know, (she was) obviously devastated last year when we weren't able to have a season. (She's) been talking about it since we stopped last year. This was our first game tonight, so she was ready to be out on the field. And she's just got tremendous heart, and she's a real leader for our team."
The Lady Wolves were dependent on the strong play of sister midfielders Paige and Aubrey Jennings, who kept control the field most of the night.
"Midfield is strong -- sister strong," Lake Hamilton head coach Stacy Scott said with a laugh. "Both are sisters back there -- Aubrey and Paige Jennings, and they work well together."
Malvern had one other targeted attempt in the half, a 27-yarder by Bryana Saling, but Rowland managed to get in front of the ball.
With the Lady Leopards up a goal at the half, Lake Hamilton came out strong and fast in the second half, again keeping the pressure on Malvern's end of the pitch. Both teams had non-targeted attempts early, but Jasmin Argueta found paydirt after a flurry in front of the goal off a corner kick from Clark.
With Argueta's equalizer, both teams started to settle in and play a little more evenly, although Lake Hamilton did start to struggle late in the half with tired legs in its third game this week and second in as many days. The Lady Wolves did not relent their pressure, despite the obvious exhaustion, as they had five shots, four on goal, in the last 15 minutes of the match.
"We're tired," Scott said. "We've had two games this week. Went to Hope Tuesday, played last night, turned around and played tonight. We're about a step behind tonight. We had great looks. We had, especially in the beginning, we had good first touches, first movements forward, and as the game wore on, we just -- we were executing, but we didn't finish it. And I think that was the biggest thing. We had probably twice as many, if not more than than that, shots on goal, and we just couldn't get it to fall later in the game. We just, we just couldn't move."
Roberts was pleased with the outcome for his team's first game of the year.
"I thought we played hard," he said. "I told them I thought we were the aggressor in the first half, and then second half, we started getting a little bit tired, and Lake Hamilton started having their runs. But that was a good team. That's a team that's 3-0 coming into tonight. I was thrilled to walk away with a 1-1 draw. I thought my girls played with great heart, great effort. And it was a really fun game, and I appreciate Lake Hamilton for coming down."
Malvern hosts Little Rock Southwest Tuesday, and Lake Hamilton will host DeQueen.