GIRLS
Maxwell’s second goal of the game came just 25 seconds into the second half when she raced down the far side in front of the Siloam Springs bench. Russellville’s goalkeeper Brit Hillis came out to meet her and she lofted a shot over the keeper for her second goal of the game with 39:35 left in the match.
Hutto then scored with 32:21 remaining on an assist from Maxwell for a 3-0 lead.
Maxwell’s last goal came from a Hutto assist in the 62nd minute for a 5-0 lead.
“Megan’s passes were perfect,” Maxwell said. “Those were Hutto’s goals too.”
Maxwell finished the season with a single-season school record of 42 goals and 18 assists, which broke Sarah Kidd Viatrov’s record for goals and tied her mark for assists.
Her assists would be first in school history had Hutto not tallied 22 assists to go with her 25 goals for the Lady Panthers (24-3).
“Megan Hutto’s a big part of our team,” said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. “It takes 11 players working together. We need attacking players. Megan and Audrey are great attacking players.”
“We’ve got A.C. (Anna Claire Lewis) in the back who does a great job, and we’ve got Meghan Kennedy in the back who does a great job. Buck (Brooklyn Buckminster) holds the center mid down for us. There’s just so many pieces to the puzzle. They kind of get all the glory, but it takes all 11 to do their part.”
Maxwell and Hutto have combined to win three of the MVP awards in the Lady Panthers’ four-year state championship run. Bailei Brown, goalkeeper in 2014 and now a senior volleyball player at John Brown, won the MVP after making three saves in the PK period against Mountain Home in the 2014 state title game.
Maxwell now has 60 goals and 29 assists for her career, while Hutto has 40 goals and 39 assists.
Win it for Paige
The Siloam Springs girls soccer team will lose several seniors from this year’s state championship team, but the Lady Panthers will also lose a junior midfielder from their starting lineup.
Paige Thompson, who plays on the left wing, announced to her teammates recently that she is moving to Ohio with her family.
“We’re leaving to Ohio because my dad got a new job and he works in the automotive field,” Thompson said. “I’ve lived in Ohio before. This is the seventh state I’ve lived in. When I came here before I didn’t know anybody and whenever I joined soccer, that was the real way that I found friends. It’s just been an unforgettable experience and I never want to take it for granted.”
Thompson and her family are moving to Perrysburg, Ohio, she said.
Thompson joined the Lady Panthers her freshman season but did not play on the varsity.
She moved up to the varsity as a sophomore and helped the Lady Panthers win their third straight state title.
“She came in last year and just had some raw talent, some speed, a left-footed player,” said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. “She went out and played club this fall, just got better, more confident on the ball. We’re going to miss her. I texted her mom (Thursday) night to say we’re sure going to miss you after you leave because she’s a great kid with a great family.”
Thompson finished the season with four goals and two assists. She said she’s had fun playing for the Lady Panthers and that she’ll try and keep playing soccer in Ohio.
“It’s just an unforgettable thing,” Thompson said. “I love every single one of the girls. They just made me feel at home and made me feel wanted and helped push me to be a greater player. I love them for it.”
Crenshaw said freshman Shelby Johnson, who had four goals and one assist, would be a top candidate to replace her on the left wing.
“Shelby Johnson will probably step in that role next year ready to go,” he said.
Crenshaw scores in final
In the aftermath of the 2016 state championship, Brent Crenshaw got to share a special moment with his daughter Hadley, who was then a freshman on the team.
During Friday’s 2017 state title, Brent Crenshaw got to see his daughter score a goal in the title game.
Hadley Crenshaw’s goal with 13:39 left in the match set the final score in the Lady Panthers’ 6-1 win. It was Hadley Crenshaw’s fifth goal of the season.
“That was pretty special,” Brent Crenshaw said. “Obviously to coach your own kid is pretty special, and then to see her score in the final, that was pretty cool to see that moment. I’ll tease her a lot at home because I’m not sure that was a shot or a cross. Either way, it went in and I’m proud of her.”
So far, the soccer job in Siloam Springs couldn’t have gone any better for Brent Crenshaw and his family. He’s won two state titles in each of his first two years after moving here from Owasso, Okla.,
in the summer of 2015.
“Soccer was a huge reason why we moved to Siloam,” Brent Crenshaw said. “But also the community, we wanted to be in a better community. I wanted to be in a school where I could coach my own kids. Where I was at (in Owasso), my kids were in a different school district (at Verdigris) than I taught at, and I really didn’t want the kids to come to the school district where I was at. For us the whole family and the move over here, and to add four state championships to
it, it’s a dream come true.”
Seniors on the field
Like in the boys game earlier on Friday, the Siloam Springs girls senior soccer players finished their careers on the field.
Starters Anna Claire Lewis, Mackenzie Jones and Abigail Cole, along with senior reserves Hannah Herring, Megan Rodgers and Joselinn Andrande played the final minutes for the Lady Panthers. “We wanted to win it for the seniors,” said junior Megan Hutto.