Fayetteville earns road win at Rogers

FAYETTEVILLE 2, ROGERS 1

ROGERS — Fayetteville made its early lead stand up at Rogers on Friday night.

Chris Cooper and Diego Gonzales each scored goals in the first half and Fayetteville hung on for a 2-1 victory over the Mounties in 6A-West Conference boys soccer action at Whitey Smith Stadium. Fayetteville had some anxious moments after Chriss Salinas scored for Rogers with 9:12 left in the match.

But the Mounties (8-6, 3-1) could not get another goal past freshman Aidan McDermott, who was outstanding in goal for the Bulldogs (9-3, 2-1).

“Rogers is a great team. I love playing against Rogers,” Fayetteville Coach Brent Crenshaw said. “They have great players, a great coaching staff and it’s always a battle. But I was really proud of my guys just to grind the last 40 minutes.”

Rogers entered Friday’s match on a four-game winning streak that included Tuesday’s 4-3 victory at Springdale Har-Ber. Despite the loss, Rogers still leads the pack with nine team points followed by Springdale (21-1) and Bentonville (2-1-1) with seven points each and Fayetteville with six points in league play.

“Every game is an opportunity to learn, and we can only get better from here,” Rogers Coach Leo Hernandez said. “Both teams are very good, and it’s one of those games where you almost have to have a perfect match to be able to capitalize.

We were coming at them, but there was not enough time to put the second one away.”

Cooper scored on an assist from Jack Zeuthen to give Fayetteville an early 1-0 lead six minutes into the first half. Rogers had an opportunity to tie seconds later but a shot 10 yards in front of the goal hit the cross bar and bounced away.

Gonzales then provided Fayetteville with a two-goal advantage when he scored on a free kick with 20 minutes left in the first half.

McDermott stopped several shots from the Mounties, including a diving save on a free kick late in the first half. McDermott made a quick move and barely beat Humberto Perez to the ball inches in front of the net on another play. The two got tangled up and Perez spent the remainder of the first half on the trainer’s table with a leg injury.

Rogers kept the pressure on in the final 15 minutes. But Fayetteville defenders and McDermott withstood the surge without Caleb Coleman, who received a Red Card in the first half and had to leave the game.

“For a freshman to step up in a conference game on the road and we’re a man down, that’s pretty special,” Crenshaw said.

GIRLS

ROGERS 1, FAYETTEVILLE 0

Freshman Kayla Eggers scored the only goal of the game to lift Rogers past Fayetteville.

Eggers broke the scoreless tie on a kick from just inside a corner boundary with 23:10 left in the match.

The Lady Mounties improved to 7-4-1 overall and 3-1 in league play. Fayetteville dropped to 5-2-1 and 1-1-1.