Freshman takes knee to push Bentonville
FAYETTEVILLE — Sydney Suggs saw the corner kick coming her way, and she knew it was up to her to make something happen.
The Bentonville freshman put her knee on the ball and placed it into the goal to break a scoreless tie, and the Lady Tigers went on to win their second consecutive Class 7A state girls soccer championship Saturday with a 4-0 victory over Cabot at Razorback Field.
“I didn’t even realize I scored,” Suggs said. “I looked over at somebody and said, ‘Did I just do that?’ It was so surreal. I couldn’t believe it happened.”
Suggs’ goal came after Bentonville (22-2) had a number of other scoring opportunities not go its way. The Lady Tigers couldn’t convert on two previous corner kicks and other shots on goal.
That all changed on the third corner kick. Madison Howard fired from the far sideline, and Suggs converted to put the Lady Tigers on the board with 5:37 left before halftime.
“I don’t know if we’ve scored off a corner kick all year,” Bentonville Coach Kristina Henry said. “For this to be the day, to break through, that was huge. I tell them they just have to be there. If you’re there, you have a chance.
“The corner kicks are designed for somebody to get on the end of the ball. They all have their runs, and they know what they are supposed to do. Hopefully, somebody is on the end of it.”
The rest of the match belonged to the senior trio of Lauren Hargus, Victoria Mitchell and Emma Welch. Hargus, a University of Central Arkansas signee, picked up an assist from Mitchell and scored from the right side three minutes later for a 2-0 Bentonville halftime cushion.
Those two worked together again on two occasions in the second half. Mitchell fed Hargus for her second goal, this one on a kick from about 25 yards out, to give Bentonville a 3-0 lead. Hargus, who was named MVP, competed her hat trick when she took a pass from Welch shortly after a corner kick and drilled a shot into the goal on a kick from just outside the box on the right side.
“I wanted nothing less than to win this game,” Hargus said. “This was the toughest match of the season, and I knew I had to pull out a huge game. I had confidence in myself, and I think I did a pretty decent job.”
Cabot (23-3), the state runner-up for the second consecutive year, went on the attack from the outset and had a scoring opportunity denied after a scramble inside the box. The Lady Panthers played most of the early stages of the match on their side of the field, but they had nothing to show for it.
Bentonville’s defense played determined in another sequence when Cabot had three or four scoring opportunities in the second half. Goalkeeper Maddee East was momentarily shaken up during a scramble in front of the net, but Lady Tiger defenders kept the ball out of the goal and eventually used a header to knock it out of bounds.
“They were pushed,” Henry said. “The work they did to weather that, I mean, that’s inspiring to the attack. The attacking players see that and say, ‘OK. We’ve got to get it done.’ ”