Lady Panthers answer quickly
■ Head coach Brent Crenshaw earned victory No. 200 Friday.
Russellville scored the game’s first goal less than 30 seconds in, and the Lady Cyclones also scored the last two late in the second half.
All the rest of the time was dominated by Siloam Springs, which dispatched Russellville 5-3 on Senior Night on Friday at Panther Stadium.
The win marked career victory No. 200 for Brent Crenshaw and the Lady Panthers improved to 14-3-2 overall and 6-1 in 5A/6A District 1 play.
“A lot of time, effort, great kids
and stories, heartache and reward,” Crenshaw said. “A lot of stuff over 17 years. But I was happy to get that with them tonight on our home field against Russellville. I mean it’s more about them, but I thank them for letting me meet my personal goals too.”
After injured All-State forward Audrey Maxwell (ACL) kicked the game off and was escorted off the field by her teammates, Russellville pulled a stunner on the Lady Panthers early in the match when the Cindy Gonzalez found the back of the net just 33 seconds into the game.
Just as quickly, Siloam Springs answered as Megan Hutto scored to tie the match 1-1.
From there it was all Lady Panthers. With 34:17 left, Shelby Johnson scored off a deflection of a Laura Morales shot.
Morales then scored off a Brooklyn Buckminster assist for a 3-1 lead with 27:13 left.
Hutto took advantage of a long punt from goalkeeper Sydney Bomstad and blew past the Russellville defense to score for a 4-1 lead with 14:44 left.
Morales scored again just more than a minute-and-ahalf into the second half for a 5-1 lead.
Brianna Sparks scored two late goals for Russellville (4-10-1, 2-4) with less than 10 minutes left against Siloam Springs’ junior varsity to close the lead to 5-3 and force Siloam Springs to put its starters back in.
“Hate to do that because I don’t want to kill anybody’s confidence, but we’ve got to make sure we get that victory,” Crenshaw said. “I was trying to get some players in up 5-1 with 15 minutes left. They created a couple of chances and scored, and we had to put our starters back in just to solidify that win.”
Siloam Springs 3, Greenwood 0
A pair of Siloam Springs goalkeepers made saves on penalty kicks to help the Lady Panthers preserve a shutout in their victory against Greenwood on Tuesday at Panther Stadium.
In the eighth minute of the match, Greenwood was awarded a PK and Molly Odell attempted the shot, but she kicked it right to senior starting goalkeeper Sydney Bomstad, who made the save.
Then, with 6:13 left in the match and Siloam Springs up 3-0, Greenwood was awarded another PK.
This time Bella Mora attempted the shot, and Siloam Springs JV goalkeeper Alyssa Muessemeyer dove to her right and made the stop to keep the Lady Bulldogs off the scoreboard.
The Siloam Springs bench, which was mostly starters at that point with JV players on the field, erupted in celebration when Muessemeyer made the save.
“Pretty excited to see us stop two PKs,” said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. “Alyssa Muessemeyer, I was so happy for her, as the team was too. She hasn’t played goalkeeper very long and came to us to volunteer for that position. She is a great kid and has done so well. Hat’s off to (volunteer) coach (Hannah) Poor for working with her.”
Megan Hutto split a pair of defenders and outran the Greenwood defense to get a one-on-one with the Lady Bulldogs goalkeepr and scored with 19:37 left in the first half for a 1-0 Siloam Springs lead.
Hutto assisted to Laura Morales with 12:28 left in the first half for a 2-0 lead.
Hutto connected with Morales for a second goal with 31:53 left for a 3-0 lead.
Crenshaw subbed out the majority of his starters midway through the second half to get valuable minutes for his junior varsity squad.
“We are so banged up right now,” he said. “I thought it was beneficial to sit my starters after a 3-0 lead and let our JV get some time in. The JV still did an amazing job and created some chances. I’m excited about the future of the program.”