Barron aggressive in goal, leads Tigers to title

Bentonville senior goalkeeper Ben Barron makes a save during the Tigers’ 2-0 victory over Springdale on Friday during the Class 7A boys soccer state championship game at Razorback Field in Fayetteville. It was Bentonville’s third consecutive title.
Bentonville senior goalkeeper Ben Barron makes a save during the Tigers’ 2-0 victory over Springdale on Friday during the Class 7A boys soccer state championship game at Razorback Field in Fayetteville. It was Bentonville’s third consecutive title.

7A-WEST BOYS

BENTONVILLE 2, SPRINGDALE 0

SPRINGDALE -- The 7A-West's co-Most Valuable Players had a one-on-one showdown early in the 7A boys state championship match at Razorback Field on Friday.

Bentonville goalkeeper Ben Barron sprung into action, charging from the goal to defend a shot from Springdale High's Leo Araujo, arriving at the edge of the box just in time to deflect it harmlessly out of bounds and keep the match scoreless.

Barron, also the conference's goalkeeper of the year, won that exchange less than 10 minutes into the match. It was the first of many saves Barron made, plays that helped springboard the Tigers to a 2-0 win over Springdale and their third consecutive state championship.

"He's been absolutely magnificent all year," Bentonville Coach Mike Devaney said of Barron. "I've said all along that I think he's the best goalkeeper in the state by a million miles and he proved it again today. It doesn't come as a shock to us."

Several of Barron's saves, like the early one on Araujo, occurred when he charged Springdale players, disrupting their shots and neutralizing the threat. His aggressiveness also prevented a number of other potential shots when he leaped high to corral corner kicks and other balls in the box.

"I hadn't really come out and collected as many high balls and been as aggressive this season," Barron said. "I was watching some film from last year's game in the finals and I realized how much more aggressive I was coming out. And I made that a goal, to be more aggressive, to come out and collect more balls."

Bentonville (16-5-1) scored quickly, taking a 1-0 lead on junior forward Sam Uzere's goal five minutes into the match. Senior Tyler Roberts slipped a ball past Springdale goalkeeper Luis Rodriguez to extend the lead to 2-0 with 16:49 left in the opening half. That was more than enough offense for the Tigers.

Springdale (19-6) entered the match having won both regular-season meetings against the Tigers, thanks in large part to the play of Araujo, who scored a team-high 21 goals this year. He scored all five goals in a shutout victory in the teams' first meeting and then scored another in a 2-1 victory that helped Springdale clinch the conference title. On Friday, Bentonville senior Wyatt D'Spain won title-game MVP honors while helping keep Araujo from scoring.

"We marked (Araujo) with Wyatt D'Spain and we were just absolutely determined that he wasn't going to beat us," Devaney said. "I thought Wyatt was magnificent. We just needed to get our noses in front of him and when we did that early on, I think that settled us down enormously."

Araujo had a few opportunities, but most of his touches drew great attention from Bentonville. The rest of the Bulldogs weren't able to score on Barron and the Tigers either.

"We anticipated that they would (mark Araujo) and we made some adjustments ourselves," Springdale Coach DJ Beeler said. "I felt like we created the chances we needed to win the game. We had a couple hit the post, several quality chances.

"The difference in the game was their goalkeeper. Give credit to the whole Bentonville team for playing well and playing as a unit, but he came up very big for them and I think he was the difference in the game."

Sports on 05/21/2016

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