ROGERS -- Rogers Heritage finally found the offense it has been looking for Friday night.
Junior forward Emily Seiler scored two goals and added an assist, while Bailee Russell added two more goals to lead the Lady War Eagles to a 6-3 victory over Fort Smith Southside in 7A-West girls soccer in Gates Stadium.
Southside (2-8-1, 1-5 7A-West) gave Heritage (6-4, 3-3) a fight and tied the match 3-3 with a little more than 30 minutes left in the second half. The Lady War Eagles took over from there.
Hannah Markel bombed in a high-arcing shot that banged off the post and into the net four minutes later for a 4-3 lead. Seiler followed with another blast from 40 yards out, then put perfect touch on a corner kick and Russell banged it in for the 6-3 lead. Markel finished two assists to go with her goal.
Heritage coach Craig Frank said his team rebounded nicely after giving up the tying goal early in the second half.
"It was a simple mistake, but we have confidence in our offense," Frank said. "We found the goals we've been missing most of the year. Scoring's been difficult. We've either been shooting it right at the goalie or kicking football field goals. But tonight we were putting it on frame. Seiler was spot on. Hannah Markel was spot on. Our forwards were busting it.
"We got a few lucky breaks and we gave them a few breaks. We just converted on more of the opportunities. We got a little confidence and took the steam out of them once we went two goals up."
Southside had a few scoring chances, but had multiple shots bounce off the crossbar or the post.
"We had a lot of good opportunities, but we were a little unlucky," Southside coach Jeremy Davis said. "But that happens in girls soccer if you hit it high, it's hard for them to get up and knock it away. But credit to them, they hit some good shots."
Boys
Rogers Heritage 4, Fort Smith Southside 0
Sophomore Erol Banuelos had a hat trick to help the War Eagles notch their first 7A-West victory of the season.
Banuelos scored on a header with 17:10 left in the first half. Pedro Garcia added another with less than 10 minutes left in the half for Heritage (3-8-2, 1-5). Banuelos added two more goals in hte final eight minutes of the second half.
Southside dropped to 4-6-1 and 2-4 in the league.
Paul Boyd can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAPaulB.
Sports on 04/11/2015