Lady Cats earn All-State soccer
El Dorado won a 5A South girls' soccer title and advanced to the state semifinals this season. The Lady Wildcats were rewarded with four All-State selections in Marleigh Bonsall, London Ingram, Caroline Meadows and Brintley Parker.
All of the AllState selections are underclassmen.
“They're part of the core that keeps the team together. You can rely on them to do their job,” said El Dorado coach Neville Matthews.
Bonsall led the team with 47 goals and 10 assists. Ingram led the team in assists with 11 and scored 29 goals. Meadows had 20 goals and five assists and Parker, a defender, had one goal.
“We've got (Parker) on defense. She kind of anchors our defense. She's our speed on defense,” said Matthews. “Caroline Meadows, she has a dual role. She's an attacking-mid. Most teams will try to lock London and Marleigh down. We always use her as an option. She can attack from the midfield. In all actuality, before London, I use to use her as a striker. But she's solid in the midfield because of her possession skills. And, she can give us time to set up on top. When they are focusing on London and Marleigh, we always use her as a second option to put balls in the net, and she's done that well.”
Bonsall and Ingram were the team's primary goal scorers.
“Marleigh and London are the two attackers up top,” said Matthews. “Marleigh is aggressive. London is even more aggressive. Our game-plan is to possess the ball, feed through the middle and get it up top to Marleigh and London. That's pretty much most of our game strategy.”
El Dorado goalie Catelyn Connor earned All-State Tournament honors. Despite a 6-0 loss to eventual champion Searcy in the semifinals, Connor made several eye-popping saves.
“She got some work and she handled it,” said Matthews. “A couple of those goals, there was nothing she could've done.”