De Queen looks for win at 5A state championship

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.—De Queen will face a familiar foe in the Conference 5A boys soccer state championship match.

The Leopards will face Hot Springs in the Conference 5A boys soccer state championship at Lady Razorback Soccer Field at the University of Arkansas at 2 p.m. on Saturday.

“This our third meeting this year with Hot Springs. The series is tied 1-1 going into Saturday, so hopefully we can add one to our total in the series,” De Queen boys head soccer coach Stephen Sloan said.

The Trojans are 21-4 overall, while De Queen is 18-6-1 on the season.

“They have the best player in the state in Erick Guadron. He's the state's all-time leading scorer,” Sloan said.

Hot Springs has scored 91 goals this season, while the Leopards have accounted for 77 goals.

“We have to keep them off the scoreboard. It's going to be tough, but it is going to be a great matchup between two well-coached teams,” Sloan said.

De Queen is comprised of mostly upperclassmen, with four sophomores in the starting lineup to contribute to the Leopards gameplan.

“This has become somewhat of a rivalry between the two schools. We played them during the regular season and now we get to play them for a state championship,” Sloan said.

These conference foes are also similar in the goals scored per game with Hot Springs averaging 3.6 goals per game and De Queen averaging 3.3 goals per game. “The winner of this game will simply come down to who makes the fewest mistakes,” Sloan said. Sloan hopes his game-tested Leopards are up for the challenge of taking on the Trojans for all the marbles in the rubber match in Fayetteville.