Meyers’ 4 goals lift Lady Bulldogs

CLASS 6A GIRLS GREENWOOD 5, JONESBORO 1

SILOAM SPRINGS — Greenwood senior Courtney Meyers had a great day in the opening round of the Class 6A girls state soccer tournament.

Meyers scored four goals as the Lady Bulldogs defeated Jonesboro 5-1 in a light rain at Sager Creek Soccer Park.

“That’s pretty good,” Greenwood Coach Andrew Post said. “She did exactly what I told her to do. Shoot the ball. Shoot the ball.”

Greenwood, the No. 6 seed from the 6A-West, advanced to today’s 2 p.m. quarterfinal against conference-rival Russellville, which defeated the Lady Bulldogs 5-1 and 4-0 during the regular season.

“We haven’t fared well against them,” Post said. “[Today] we’re going to come out with a game plan to try and put us in the best position to try and stay competitive with them. Maybe take it to PKs, maybe even go up 1-0 and try to beat them. It’d be a great way for us to continue our season to beat Russellville because we are big rivals.”

Meyers scored the game’s first goal in just the third minute, giving Greenwood the lead with 37:50 left in the first half.

Meyers scored twice more in the first half as the Lady Bulldogs (7-13) went ahead 3-0 with 11:46 left before halftime.

“We’ve had our ups and downs this season, but we’ve really picked it up the last few games when it really matters,” Meyers said.

Carolina Robles scored a goal for Jonesboro just a few seconds later as the Lady Hurricane (17-7) pulled within 3-1 at halftime.

Ella Austin got Greenwood’s lead back to three goals with a score with 19:08 left in the second half.

Meyers scored her final goal — a 35-yard liner — with 16:17 left in the game.