FAYETTEVILLE -- Audrey Maxwell saw the open goal and fired away as hard as she could.
The great look proved to be all Siloam Springs needed to win its third consecutive girls state soccer championship.
Maxwell's goal with 16 minutes, 48 seconds left lifted the Lady Panthers to a 1-0 victory over 7A/6A-Central Conference foe Russellville in the Class 6A state finals at Razorback Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
It was the third consecutive Class 6A state title for the Siloam Springs girls, but it was the first for first-year head coach Brent Crenshaw, who was hired to coach the soccer program last summer.
"We didn't play our best today, but we found a way to get that one goal late and held on," Crenshaw said.
Siloam Springs beat Russellville twice in three games. The Lady Panthers won 4-1 in Siloam Springs on April 12, but Russellville won 3-2 on May 3.
The deciding goal Friday came late in the second half after a cornerkick on Siloam Springs' end of the field.
Maxwell took the kick from the near corner, and as the ball came out near the edge of the 18-yard box, Russellville's goalkeeper Onna Collins came out to make a stab at the ball.
Collins got her hand on the ball but it popped free, right to Maxwell, who fired on an empty goal with her right foot.
"I just hit it as hard I could, and it went in," said Maxwell, who was also named MVP. "That was awesome. It feels amazing to win with my team. Nobody was the best player. It was a team effort."
Russellville Coach Kelly Young said Collins made the right play on the ball, but the Lady Cyclones (11-9-1) failed to clear it.
"Yeah my keeper did the right thing," Young said. "She came out and made a great save for us. Somehow it just dropped out of her hands. We still had a chance to clear it and just didn't get it cleared. She played a fantastic game. Had we won, she would have been the MVP for sure, kept us in the game all night along."
Crenshaw said Siloam Springs noticed on film and from previous meetings that Collins was aggressive on balls that came into the box.
"Watching film we noticed she comes off her line a lot and early," Crenshaw said. "We talked about that a lot on cornerkicks and set pieces. That second ball that comes out, if she doesn't get it the goal's going to be open, and it fell for us today."
Siloam Springs dominated ball possession but couldn't muster up many good looks at the goal. The Lady Panthers' best chance came in the first half and nearly had a goal but Collins kept a stab by Maycee Lance out of the net.
Mostly, the Lady Panthers (13-8-1) were outnumbered on the offensive side of the field as Russellville often kept heavy numbers on its side.
"They stayed deep on us," Crenshaw said. "They knew our speed was pretty good. They kind of took that away from us. We had to find other ways to break them down. We didn't play the best that we can play, but they grinded it out and found a way there at the end."
Sports on 05/21/2016