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Senior Brings More Speed To Bentonville Pace

Lauren Powers, Bentonville senior outside forward, will be playing in her fourth straight 7A State Soccer Championship game on Friday when her team takes on Mount St. Mary in Fayetteville.
Lauren Powers, Bentonville senior outside forward, will be playing in her fourth straight 7A State Soccer Championship game on Friday when her team takes on Mount St. Mary in Fayetteville.

BENTONVILLE — It was legendary late UCLA basketball coach John Wooden who coined the phrase “be quick, but don’t hurry.”

Lauren Powers has heard it on numerous occasions throughout her high school soccer career, and she’s likely to hear it again when she and her Bentonville teammates step on the field to play Mount St. Mary in the Class 7A Girls State Soccer championship on Friday.

“I’ve heard it a lot,” the senior forward said. “I get too anxious sometimes, but I’m working on it.

“Our key word has been patience. We had a word of the week, and it’s been patience. It’s been kind of the word of the season because we like to go fast, and we have to learn to pace ourselves.”

CLASS 7A GIRLS STATE SOCCER CHAMPIONSHIP

Bentonville vs. Mount St. Mary

WHEN: 6 p.m.

WHERE: Razorback Field, Fayetteville

RECORDS: Bentonville Lady Tigers 15-3-1; Mount St. Mary Belles 16-4

HOW THEY GOT THERE: Bentonville defeated Rogers Heritage 5-3 and Fort Smith Southside 6-0; Mount St. Mary defeated Fayetteville 3-0 and Bryant 2-1.

Powers plays a key component in Bentonville’s offensive attack, which has produced 11 goals during two state tournament victories. She plays on the left side and helps bring the ball down the field to set up the offense.

Lady Tigers coach Kristina Henry actually moved Powers into that spot from her traditional midfielder position in order to add even more speed to the attack.

“It’s like fast forward,” Henry said. “She works at such a high pace, and if we can channel her energy toward the goal, it simplified things a lot for her.

“She’s been willing to do something different, and really take the same role she’s been playing and play it a little differently.”

It didn’t take long for Powers to see results from her new position. Her angle toward the goal isn’t normally the greatest, so she normally sets up those players stationed in front of the net.

But it doesn’t stop her from trying a shot from time to time. She did it during a benefit match against Springdale Har-Ber, and it accounted for Bentonville’s first goal of the season.

“I think it had ricocheted off a defender,” Powers said. “I was probably about 12 to 15 yards out. I just took a touch and shot it right into the side of the netting.

“We have this joke of ‘it took you so many minutes to score a goal last season,’ and I was like ‘how long did it take me this season?’ I look a lot of shots last season, but couldn’t get them to go in. It took me until the last third of the season to score, but it was much better this season.”

Powers has already included soccer into her future plans, signing a letter of intent with Hannibal-LaGrange University before the season started. Now she’s about to embark upon the end of her high school career by doing something that only a select few have done.

Many players never experience an opportunity to play in one state championship. Powers, on the other hand, is among a group of Lady Tigers seniors who are about to play in their fourth state title match.

“It’s kind of crazy because I couldn’t imagine it any other way,” Powers said. “It makes me really grateful on this team and have that kind of success. Not everybody gets it, and that makes it so surreal.

“When I look back at it, it’s just crazy. That doesn’t just happen.”

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