Five-peat for SSHS girls soccer,
The Siloam Springs High School girls soccer team won their fifth consecutive state championship on May 18, becoming the first in state history to accomplish this.
The championships took place at Razorback Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas and their opponent in the match was Benton, who they defeated 1-0. They also defeated Benton 5-2 on May 6 at the 6A-West Conference title game. The single goal was scored by senior Megan Hutto in the 29th minute of the first half, and she was assisted by freshman Madison Race. Hutto earned the title of Most Valuable Player, an honor she was also given as a freshman after the team beat Searcy 1-0 to win the championships in 2015.
“I’m really just proud of us today and how we played the whole state tournament,” Hutto said. “We played so hard. I know it was really tight. I got really scared and tired. It was our last game together, so we had to keep going and keep pushing and want it more.”
Benton’s offense started out strong at the beginning of the game. Thanks to senior goalie Sydney Bomstad, however, who made three saves within the first 10 minutes, Siloam Springs began to gain momentum as the first half progressed. After having a point on the scoreboard, the team shifted to a defensive strategy in the second half, which was led by Bomstad, her fellow seniors Meghan Kennedy and Brooklyn Buckminster, and junior Hailey Dorsey.
“We knew it would be a tough battle,” Siloam Springs coach Brent Crenshaw said. “Benton’s got a good team, good players. … I knew that they would play hard. We were able to withstand the first 10 to 15 minutes. That was huge. We controlled the game. We couldn’t finish goal number two. I think we had plenty of chances, we just couldn’t finish.”