Its been 15 years since the Fayetteville Bulldogs last won a state championship in soccer.
It took just four minutes to put themselves on path for one in the 7A state tournament on Thursday. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead thanks to a goal from Richard Hudson and rolled to a 5-1 win against Little Rock Central.
"The first part of the game, you always have some nerves so when you get that early goal it just kind of calms everybody down and able to play our game," Fayetteville senior Nicholas Kley said.
"That just kind of built momentum right off the bat," Fayetteville senior Richard Hudson said. "I think we scored the first three minutes. It got us pumped coming out real strong."
The strong start was big in the opening round win but a similar start will be needed in the second round as Fayetteville will face the defending state champion, Northside.
"I think we’ve got a solid senior squad that can do it and we’ve got a good group of sophomores that are strong too and I think we can get it done," Kley said.
"It’s going to be a tough game," Hudson said. "We’re going to be playing a good opponent. We’re just looking forward to being able to play somebody with a quality record whose got some skill so we’re looking forward to it."