Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Changes In Store For PG Boys Soccer
DARDANELLE OUSTS TIGERS 2-1 IN CONFERENCE TOURNEY
PRAIRIE GROVE —A variety of changes during the offseason paint a new picture for the soccer program at Prairie Grove going into the 2022-2023 school year.
Girls head coach Mat Stewart resigned to relocate to South Carolina. Tommy Roy steps up from assistant to head coach while Kristen Walker, who served as boys head coach the past two seasons, is now moving over to girls assistant coach.
“I enjoyed being with the boys, but I’m really excited to help with the girls,” Walker said.
David Faulk, School Resource Officer, and Matt Chandler, an assistant football coach, will serve as co- coaches for the Tiger boys soccer team in the 2023 season.
Twelve seniors graduated from the boys team making it the second straight large class to move on via graduation.
“We’ve graduated 24 players over the last two years,” Walker said.
While some might project 2023 to be a rebuilding year, Walker sees Faulk jumping in with fresh enthusiasm while noting a good turnout during tryouts two weeks ago.
“He’s done so much for our program. Officer Faulk has a lot of great energy. I think it will be good for the boys,” Walker said.
Dardanelle 2, Prairie Grove 1
An April 29 loss at Dardanelle in the 4A West Conference tournament by a 2-1 score ended the 2022 season for the Prairie Grove boys soccer team.
The match showcased a superb effort on the part of the Tigers, but they couldn’t find the net more than once.
“The boys really wanted that one. They played so well, but we just couldn’t finish,” Walker said. “On March 29 we went down to Dardanelle and they beat us 6-0. Here we are a month later and it’s 2- 1. It was heartbreaking, but I’m really proud of our boys.”
The match was scoreless for the first 15 minutes before the Sand Lizards broke the ice on a fluke play.
Dardanelle’s first goal came on a corner kick. The box was flooded with players, but the ball took an unfavorable bounce ricocheting off one of the Tigers.
Prairie Grove tied the match at 1- 1 on Paytin
Higgins’ goal when he converted a long shot that impressed his coach.
“Paytin scored a goal from fairly far out,” Walker said.
The score stayed deadlocked at halftime
The Tigers dominated possession in the second half with most of it played on Dardanelle’s end, but scoring eluded them. Colin Faulk had a 1- on-1 with Dardanelle’s goalie and Higgins got several more shots on goal, but none found the net.
Prairie Grove battled injuries. Both forward Eric Rojas-Hernandez and Lucas Akey missed the match while Donnie Dormer experienced intense shin splints. He couldn’t run and came out in the first half and didn’t return to the action.
Marcelo Maldonado suited up after missing three games and Walker praised his inspired play as well as that of younger players thrown into the lineup.
Dardanelle scored off a situation substitution taking the ball the length of the field when the Tigers were gassed to go up 2-1 in the second half.
Prairie Grove goal keeper Kevin Herrera accomplished a pair of improbable saves and kept the Tigers in the match.
“Kevin Herrera made some incredible saves. On a couple of saves I thought the ball was going in the net. He just made that last stretch and leap and found a way to stop it,” Walker said.
Strong Conference
Dardanelle went on to upset Berryville, 3-2, before losing to eventual Class 4A State Runner-up Clarksville, 2-0, in the 4A West semifinals. The Sandlizards went into the state tournament as a No. 4 seed after losing 3-2 to Harrison in the 4A West consolation match but upended 4A East champion Valley View, 4-3, at state and advanced to the quarterfinals before losing 2-1 to Nashville.
4A West regular season champion Clarksville beat Farmington, 3- 0, in the conference tournament finals, but that flip-flopped in the Class 4A State Finals with the Cardinals beating the Panthers, 4-3, to win the state championship.
“The 4A West has always been a strong conference. It’s getting stronger, but it’s also a hard conference to play in,” Walker said.
Farmington and Clarksville graduated seven seniors apiece.
Farmington 4, Prairie Grove 1
Jorge Cervantes paced the Cardinal offense by scoring a goal to go with two assists as Farmington beat Prairie Grove, 4-1, in boys soccer action on Tuesday, April 19. Caleb Blakely, Ettore Bocchi, and Mateo Carbonel also had goals for the Cardinals.
Trenton Lovelace-Chandler scored Prairie Grove’s goal on a penalty kick.
“He was one of our best penalty kick shooters,” Walker said.
Witnessing their No. 1 rival win the 2022 state championship generated an impact for Prairie Grove. While Walker acknowledges it’s easy to get overwhelmed or discouraged because of the experience on other teams in the league, students are now looking at the possibilities realizing Farmington won it all during only its second full season of competition.
“We still have a lot of people who are fairly unfamiliar with soccer here in Prairie Grove, but obviously it’s growing,” Walker said.