Before the Red Wolves Baseball visit Baum-Walker Stadium, prior to A-State Football clashing with Arkansas in Little Rock, the Razorbacks will meet on Red Wolves’ hallowed ground when the soccer teams knock heads at A-State Soccer Complex this Saturday at 1 PM.

True, the two programs have met for club Rugby (with the nationally ranked Red Wolves routinely destroying their western cousins). But not only is soccer an NCAAA sanctioned sport for both campuses, both teams are actually very good.

In case you’re a bit confused about Spring Soccer, COVID-19 forced the NCAA to move the 2020 championship tournament to spring of 2021. This game is not an exhibition. It has impact, with possible NCAA tournament seedings in the balance. To host the University of Arkansas in Jonesboro at our venue is not without its significance.

The Red Wolves are enjoying an extraordinary 11-3-1 season, and is lead by senior forward Sarah Sodoma, a three-time first-team all-SBC player who led the team with 8. Arkansas is ranked #15 in the nation so I assume they’re decent enough, too.

Both teams lost in the finals of their respective conference tournaments last autumn. Both teams are 1-1 on the Spring Season (the Red Wolves lost a 2-0 match to Mississippi State, and Arkansas recently dropped a match to St. Louis) and this meeting will likely bring out some of the best damn soccer in the state. If it doesn’t, please credit the error to my lack of soccer knowledge.

All that said, Razorbacks vs Red Wolves starts becoming a real thing the moment of the first touch on Saturday. From here, all arguments about who is running the better athletic program becomes less a moot theoretical exercise and more a real examination of statistics and facts. More than that, we will have finally seen the blossoming of true sportsmanship in Arkansas. Here, here, Razorbacks. May my Red Wolves kick your sorry ass.

PHOTO CREDIT: Shamelessly stolen from the A-State Soccer web page. Please serve legal papers to my lawyer.