ROGERS -- Rogers High ended the regular season with a bang Friday night.
The Lady Mounties scored two goals in a eight-minute span early in the game and they went on to defeat Rogers Heritage 3-0 in a 7A-West Conference game at Whitey Smith Stadium.
The win ends a three-match losing streak and qualified the Lady Mounties (9-10, 6-8 7A-West) for next week's Class 7A State Tournament in Bryant.
"Winning this one is a big sigh of relief," said Rogers coach Taylor Vacarro. "We are excited to go to state and this gives us some momentum. This was a solid win."
Heritage (8-13, 4-9) hosts Fort Smith Northside today at 4 p.m. and it must win to earn a berth to the state tournament.
"It is all or nothing," Heritage coach Craig Frank said. "Win and we are in."
Skylurr Patrick scored two goals and Sienna Nealon added a score as Rogers held a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime. Nealon took a pass from Patrick in for a goal with 31 minutes, 40 seconds left in the first half.
Patrick then scored at the 24-minute mark before giving the Lady Mounties a 3-0 lead with 3:58 left in the first half. Patrick's second goal was a header off a corner kick by Allie James.
"Sienna and Skylurr make things happen," Vacarro.
Heritage was the aggressor early on as the Lady War Eagles had three scoring chances the first four minutes of the game. Rogers keeper Abigail Beasley stopped a shot by Bailee Russell 15 seconds into the game and Russell was wide a minute later.
Beasley also made a fine save on a shot by Emily Seiler minutes and the tide turned when Nealon scored minutes later.
"We haven't been able to finish the last half of the year," Frank said. "We are not taking advantage of the opportunities that we are given. Earlier in the year, we converted on those. We have 48 goals this year, but not a lot the last few games."
Boys
Rogers High 3, Rogers Heritage 1
Jorge Zamarron scored two goals to lead the Mounties past the War Eagles (5-13, 3-11) in the regular season finale. The Mounties will now prepare for next week's Class 7A State Tournament in Cabot.
"We have had a hard time scoring and it is good to go into the state tournament with a win," said Mounties coach Stephen Peck. "We also did a good job defensively. The first goal was good to break the ice."
Zamarron gave Rogers (10-6, 8-6) a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the match as the Mounties led 1-0 at halftime. Zamarron was then tripped in front of the Heritage net early in the second half and he converted the penalty kick for a 2-0 lead. Abel Cruz also tallied a goal for the Mounties.
Ivan Salinas scored Heritage's only goal.
Sports on 05/09/2015