7A-West soccer report

7A-West soccer report

Rogers Heritage

War Eagles earn big win in PKs

Rogers Heritage hasn't had much luck in penalty kicks, but War Eagles coach Christhian Saavedra said his team came up big Thursday night.

Heritage (4-10-2, 2-8 7A-West Conference) came up with the 5-4 win in PKs over Springdale Har-Ber on the road Thursday night.

It's only Heritage's second win in PKs in four years for the War Eagles, according to Heritage girls coach Craig Frank.

"Yeah, the boys said 'we don't win in PKs,'" Saavedra said. "And we lost at Fayetteville earlier this year in PKs."

The two teams play a similar style, but the win is a confidence-builder for Saavedra's young team.

"We like to keep the ball on the ground and they do to," Saavedra said. "It's just who ever can finish. It was great for our guys after what we went through at Bentonville."

"These guys are young. I told them now they know you can play and they respect you. But they big thing is the kids are focusing on getting better every game."

The Heritage boys are currently tied for last in the league, but the Lady War Eagles (6-8, 3-6) are still in line for a state tournament berth, even after Thursday's 3-0 loss to Har-Ber.

-- Paul Boyd • @NWAPaulB

Rogers High

Lady Mounties rebound

Rogers defeated Springdale High 4-0 Thursday as the Lady Mounties moved to 5-5 in the 7A-West Conference. Sienna Nealon scored two goals while Skylurr Patrick and Allie James also found the back of the net for Rogers.

Patrick has 16 goals on the year while Nealon has seven.

Rogers is in the thick of the race for a berth to the Class 7A State Tournament but Lady Mounties coach Taylor Vacarro said the teams need to continue to improve.

"Defensively, we need better communication to prevent breakdowns," Vacarro said. "There aren't any easy games in our conference, so giving up just one goal can be a deciding factor. Offensively, we need to keep taking shots and making sure players crash the goal off the rebound."

-- Paul Nielsen • @NWAPaul

Springdale High

Bulldogs searching for consistency

Springdale High hasn't won back-to-back 7A-West Conference games yet this season, but Thursday's 1-0 win over Rogers High could serve as a spark for a late-season surge.

Despite its up-and-down season, Springdale (8-6-1, 4-5) is only one game back of third place in the loss column with games this week against Fort Smith Southside and Rogers Heritage, teams tied for last in the league, while the state tournament looms in the not-so-distant future.

"We're hoping that we're going to build some momentum and carry into next week," Springdale coach DJ Beeler said. "If we get positive results next week, hopefully that carries us into the state tournament with momentum. And outside of getting to the state tournament, that's what we're trying to focus on. Getting ready and playing well as a team going into the state tournament."

The young and banged-up Lady Bulldogs (1-12, 0-10) continued to struggle last week, dropping matches to Northside and Rogers. They trailed 1-0 at Rogers at halftime, but the Lady Mounties' lead swelled to 4-0 in the second half when Springdale tried to shift its personnel and formation for a more offensive attack.

"We went down 1-0 and didn't have much of a choice," coach David McKellips said. "It's either you lose 1-0 or change formation and get a little more offensive and see if you can't tie it up. ... The younger players are getting more experience, which will help our future. We're just taking our lumps this year."

-- Jimmy Carter • @NWAJimmy

Bentonville

Tough stretch awaits Tigers

Bentonville has created some space between itself and the rest of the teams in the 7A-West boys standings teams, and the Tigers will try to keep that distance intact over the next two weeks.

It won't be that easy, though. Bentonville (11-1, 8-1), which owns a two-game lead over second-place Fort Smith Northside, closes out the regular season with three of its four full matches on the road. All of those are against teams that are still in serious contention for the league title.

"We have given ourselves a little breathing room as the other teams are taking victories over each other," Bentonville coach Mike Devaney said. "But this isn't over. There are still a lot of games to be played.

"We haven't looked that far ahead. We travel to Northside, and we know that's going to be a difficult game Tuesday night."

Bentonville's girls, who have not enjoyed good starts in a lot of their games this season, had one Thursday night with two quick goals en route to a 5-1 win at Fort Smith Southside.

McKenzie Dixon had four goals to give her 104 for her Lady Tiger career, tying the school's scoring mark set by Kelly O'Connor from 2004-07. Dixon now has 33 goals this season and needs four more to break the single-season scoring mark she set last year.

"We're still looking for that complete, 80-minute game," Bentonville coach Kristina Henry said. "We're getting closer, and it was good to quick a couple of quick goals before we settled in. We had a good start and had a 2-0 lead, but we gave up a goal on a free kick."

-- Henry Apple • @NWAHenry

Fayetteville

Purple'Dogs continue hot streak

A rash of injuries and a series of tough luck losses put the Fayetteville boys in a difficult position in the 7A-West race at the halfway of the conference season. But after a 2-5 start in league play, the Bulldogs have reeled off three consecutive wins and now will look to move over .500 in the 7A-West when Fort Smith Southside visits Harmon Stadium on Tuesday.

"I think the pieces are starting to come into place a little bit," Fayetteville boys soccer coach Steve Oliver said. "We've got some kids that are believing in themselves, and we look like a team.

"The last four games have been team performances and we're headed in the right direction."

Fayetteville (9-7, 5-5 7A-West) has defeated Springdale Har-Ber, Rogers High and Fort Smith Northside during the recent win streak. The last two victories have come by way of penalty kicks, with the Bulldogs turning to two different keepers to help clinch the wins. Lucas Araujo saved two Rogers' PK attempts in the win against the Mounties, while junior Colton Farley was in the net and saved to PK shots in the victory Thursday against Northside.

But more than just strong goalkeeper play, Oliver is impressed with how the Bulldogs have improved on all ends of the field the past few weeks.

"I think the kids have decided, hey look, we're not a bad team and we're not a bad group of individual players," Oliver said. "Can we put it together for 80 minutes on a regular basis? And we've started to do that."

-- Vernon Tarver • @NWAVernon

Springdale Har-Ber

Har-Ber wins while short-handed

The Lady Wildcats beat Rogers Heritage 3-0 on Thursday despite missing two of its top players.

Har-Ber received goals from Kianna Rutledge, Raeghan Smithpeters, and Evelyn Navarro and won the game without Adeline Williams, who was hurt, and Evie Cannon, who attended her grandfather's funeral.

"Our girls did a good job of defending and keeping (Heritage) in front," Har-Ber coach John Marshall said. "We were able to use our speed on counterattacks to get behind their defense. Kianna outran a couple players and blasted the ball past the keeper to start the scoring."

Har-Ber (10-3, 6-2) returns to conference action at Rogers High on Tuesday.

-- Rick Fires • @NWARick

Sports on 04/26/2015