Soccer bound for state
Panther, Lady Panthers clinch berths while advancing in 6A-West touney
Siloam Springs’ boys soccer team couldn’t breathe a sigh of relief until its match with Greenwood was nearly over on Monday.
The Panthers punched their ticket to the Class 6A state soccer tournament with a 2-0 victory over the Bulldogs in the opening round of the 6A-West Conference Tournament at Panther Stadium.
Siloam Springs, the No. 2 seed, took a 1-0 lead in the 15th minute on a penalty kick from Christian Marroquin and then had to sweat it out the rest of the way.
Noah Slater’s goal with 1 minute, 6 seconds remaining in the second half, gave Siloam Springs (16-5-1) an insurance goal and a little bit of breathing room.
Scoring goals has been an issue of late for the Panthers, who have scored two goals or less in each of their last 11 games since beating Harrison 6-1 on March 28.
“All it would have taken was one mistake by our backline, and Greenwood could have tied that game up,” said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. “(Scoring has) been a problem for us all year. Boys play so well and hard, just can’t finish.”
The Panthers scored five goals in their first meeting with Greenwood — a 5-1 win on March 16. The Panthers won at Greenwood 2-0 on April 18.
Austin Shull was fouled inside the 18-yard box in the first half to set up a penalty kick, which Christian Marroquin banged home for the Panthers’ first goal to take a 1-0 lead. The goal was Marroquin’s team-leading 15th on the season.
Siloam Springs had several more chances, but a stellar effort from Greenwood keeper Aric McKinney, who’s signed to play at Harding, kept the Bulldogs in the game.
McKinney made a pair of saves on rocket shots from Marroquin and another from Eli Jackson in the second half.
“(McKinney) is a solid keeper,” said Greenwood coach Andrew Post. “He came up huge for us in the last two games we played.”
Said Crenshaw of McKinney: “Greenwood has a solid goalkeeper that will keep them in games. They have gotten better every time we have seen them. I am pretty sure they will have success against their next opponent and advance to state tournament.”
Overall, the Panthers outshot Greenwood 34-4, but the Bulldogs came dangerously close to tying up the game with less than four minutes remaining when they had a shot go over the goal.
“If we weren’t creating shots, then I would need to look at formations, effort etc., but we are creating a lot of chances,” Crenshaw said. “We don’t make smart decisions in the attacking third, and honestly we’re just young up top with two sophomore forwards. They are capable, and they just need to find their confidence and composure. The biggest problem we are having is our decision making in the attacking third. We will continue to work on that, watch film and help them, but they have to go do it.”
The Panthers finally did manufacture a goal in the 79th minute.
Shull’s cross found Slater on the other end, and the senior scored to make it 2-0. It was Slater’s fourth goal and
Shull’s eighth assist.
Post was pleased with Greenwood’s effort in what has been a tough season for the Bulldogs, who have only won 2 games, including a victory against Siloam Springs’ junior varsity team in penalty kicks in the Panther Classic on April 1.
“They played tough,” Post said. “Obviously, they out-possessed us. We don’t have the talent to possess it like they do, but I thought we out-hustled them.”
Greenwood, the No. 7 seed, now must win at No. 6 Lake Hamilton on Thursday to keep its season alive. Lake Hamilton lost to No. 3 Benton 6-0 in another opening round game on Monday.
Siloam Springs, meanwhile, will host No. 3 Benton at 7 p.m. Thursday at Panther Stadium in a winner’s bracket semifinal. Siloam Springs defeated Benton 3-1 in a hard-fought match during the Class 6A semifinals last season in El Dorado.