Malvern provides memorable season ending performances

LEOPARDS’ JESUS RODEA SOCRES LONE GOAL, MHS LEOPARDS AND LADY LEOPARDS TRAVEL TO BAUXITE FOR FINAL CONFERENCE MATCH-UPS

BAUXITE — To showcase a season finale performance with a passionate mindset of competitiveness was displayed by the hometown Malvern Leopards and Lady Leopards soccer teams Tuesday. Malvern traveled to Bauxite for their final regular season game in two gritty conference match-ups against the Miners and Lady Miners for senior high boys and girls soccer competition. The Lady Leopards battled tough despite being shut out by the Lady Miners 2-0.

In the nightcap, the Leopards fed off their huge senior night win against Mena and finished out the season with a 1-1 tie against the Miners to conclude conference play. Leopards’ Jesus Rodea sparked once again during conference action to score Malvern’s only goal to ignite productive offensive execution for the hometown performers.

Malvern soccer head coach Seth Roberts thought the Leopards and Lady Leopards both sparked in an impressive way during their final performances of the 2022 soccer season.

Roberts stated, “I thought the girls played one of their better games of the season. They played very hard and took the conference champions down to the wire.”

“A couple of questionable calls didn’t go our way and that was the difference. I told them before the Lake Hamilton game that our goal this year was to just keep progressively getting better as the year went on. We were such a young and inexperienced team to start,” Roberts said.

“Watching them grow not only as players but as teammates as well was special to watch. We accomplished our goal and are such a better team now than we were at the start. I told them we can’t stop here, we have to keep progressing into next year and see where it takes us. If this group sticks together we have a chance to be pretty special in the coming years,” he said.

For the Leopards, Roberts noted, “The guys built off of their momentum from the senior night win. We dominated the game in terms of possession and on the scoreboard for the majority of the game. Unfortunately we gave up a goal with three minutes left off of a set piece and ended up with a 1-1 tie.”

“[Jesus] Rodea scored our goal on a penalty kick. This season for the boys was one of the most frustrating seasons I have ever been a part of. It had nothing to do with the guys or their effort,” Roberts said.

“We were competitive in almost every game with chances to win a lot of games this season,” he mentioned. “It just seemed we couldn’t find a way to get over the hump until the end of the season. The guys never gave up. No matter how many crushing defeats they faced they always showed up to work the next day with great attitudes and wanted to get better. That’s what made the win against Mena so special.”

He emphasized how much pleasure it was to coach such a competitive unit this season. Despite falling short to enter postseason competition, Roberts thought both teams worked hard all season long and represented the hometown with pride.

“I was so happy to see their hard work pay off and the joy I saw on all of their faces when it happened. I will never forget that win. It’s always special to have your seniors walk out of Claude Mann on a winning note. We finished the season so strong and I am so proud of them,” Roberts said.

He concluded by saying, “It’s hard to not look back and say what could have been but that doesn’t take away from how I feel about these guys and how proud of them I am for how they finished the season so strongly. The only negative about this season is saying goodbye to 12 awesome young people. I know our seniors will achieve great things and make us proud— They will always be family.”