Panthers bounce back, blank Green Forest
The Siloam Springs boys soccer team bounced back Monday night after a disappointing weekend in Harrison.
The Panthers scored four second half goals to run away with a 5-0 victory against Green Forest on a cold night at Panther Stadium.
Just a few days prior, the Panthers went 1-1-1 in three games in the Harrison Classic, including ending the weekend with a 1-0 loss to Valley View.
The Panthers scored just two goals all weekend, which included a 0-0 tie against Fayetteville on Friday and a 2-1 win over Harrison earlier on Saturday.
Monday’s result was more like what the Panthers want to see.
“I think it was just slowly working back into things that we’ve constantly talked about and shown on the board and shown on film,” said SSHS head coach Luke Shoemaker. “And really got after them on our poor showing at Harrison this weekend. I tried to call them out. They know they could have played better soccer, and it showed today. They combined better. They made better runs. They finally had that grit inside of you to make some 1-v-1 moves, and it led to opportunities. We didn’t create many chances this weekend, but we always play really well at home, and I was proud of them.”
Siloam Springs led 1-0 after Edwin Batres scored in the 25th minute on a Erik Gomez assist.
Ivan Sandoval whipped in a cross that led to a Green Forest own goal in the 44th minute to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead.
Sandoval scored on a penalty kick in the 47th minute for a 3-0 lead and assisted to Dylan Garcia, who scored in the 54th minute.
Anthony Sandoval found Ronald Mancia for a goal in the 60th minute to set the final score.
It was the Panthers’ third shutout of the season defensively.
“I would really like to give a shoutout to our back line,” Shoemaker said. “Last week, five games we gave up three goals, but none of them were in the run of play. All three were off of set pieces. Again tonight they consistently give us the time to develop an attack because they’re constantly keeping a clean sheet on the board.”
In the 2-1 win against Harrison on Saturday, Ivan Sandoval and Erik Gomez had goals, while Ivan Sandoval had an assist.
The Panthers (3-1-2) will return to action on Thursday to open 5AWest Conference play at Mountain Home.
“Conference is here,” Shoemaker said. “It’s still crazy to me that we play conference so soon compared to the old days. But it’s here. It’s a long road trip. But I think the guys are excited to start conference play and really try to contend with the Van Burens and the Russellvilles.
“(Mountain Home) Coach (Nathan) Criner, terrific coach, he and I have become really good friends the past few years of being in this game. They’ll be prepared and they’ll give us a battle. We just have to continue to try to break teams down.”
Girls
The Siloam Springs girls went 1-1 on the final day of the Harrison Classic, beating Valley View 4-0 before losing 4-0 to Fayetteville in the final game.
In the win against Valley View, Karen Flores scored a penalty kick goal to get the Lady Panthers’ scoring started.
The Lady Panthers (3-2) went up 2-0 after a Jetta Broquard goal and Ellen Slater assist on the heels on several solid passes, according to coach Abby Ray.
Halle Hernandez scored the final two goals. The first came after Cailee Johnson sent a pass to Ellen Slater who passed ahead to Hernandez. The second came from an assist by Abygail Ballesteros.