SPRINGDALE -- Fayetteville rallied from a halftime deficit to defeat Springdale High 3-1 at Jarrell Williams Bulldog Stadium on Friday.
Payton Woodward scored a season-high two goals and Georgia Templeton had two assists to help the Lady Bulldogs improve to 9-2 overall and 4-1 in 7A-West play.
It wasn't easy, especially after Springdale (4-5, 0-4) took a 1-0 lead on Jessica Alvarado's free kick with 4 minutes, 53 seconds remaining in the first half.
Fayetteville had outshot the Lady Red'Dogs 7-3 at that point, but the late goal put a scare into the Lady Purple'Dogs.
"They did a nice job of limiting our opportunities and put some pressure on us with that goal," said Fayetteville coach Joe Thoma. "I thought we responded well by coming out and attacking better in the second half, especially with the way we attacked in those first 10 minutes."
Indeed. Woodward, a junior, scored two goals in the first 5:38 of the second half. The first was a header off of a perfectly placed corner kick by Templeton.
"I knew Georgia was going to put it exactly where it needed to be," Woodward said. "Once I saw it in the air and it got there, I knew it was going in."
Woodward's second goal came on a penalty kick. The foul occurred in front of the goal after Templeton attempted her third corner kick in matter of minutes. Woodward wasn't nervous before depositing what proved to be the game-winning shot in the right-corner pocket of the goal.
"Coach Thoma makes us stay after and practice PKs every day," Woodward said. "We've hit so many, it just comes natural at this point."
Woodward said her teammates weren't too worried about the late goal by Springdale, but knew they needed to be more aggressive in the second half.
"I think we were more shocked than concerned," Woodward said. "We knew that if we brought our 'A' game, then we would come back and win easily. I think they caught us by surprise when we were on our heels, so we just weren't fully prepared for that."
Another corner kick by Templeton helped Fayetteville add an insurance goal and create the final margin. Templeton's high-arching pass deflected off Reagan Resz' head before Myra Tubb hammered it in with 26:58 remaining in regulation.
"There was no wind, so there was no excuses," Thoma said. "Georgia does a such great job of putting the ball up high and we have some taller girls who can go up and get it and head it in."
Fayetteville has a full week ahead with three conference matches in four days with home matches against Van Buren and Springdale Har-Ber on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively, before traveling to Bentonville on Friday. Springdale is at Rogers High on Tuesday and at Rogers Heritage on Friday.
Boys
Springdale 4, Fayetteville 1
Jesus Barroso's goal on a free kick from 23 yards out helped the Red'Dogs (10-2, 5-1) secure a tough conference victory.
Barroso's shot, which curled around a wall of Fayetteville (4-7, 1-5) defenders and into the right side of the net, snapped a 1-1 tie with 24:56 remaining in regulation. Goal by Richie Godinez and Salvador Gonzalez in the final 10:23 created the final margin.
Springdale struck first on Manuel Soto's goal with 9:55 to go in the first half, but the Purple'Dogs answered 71 seconds later on a goal by Thomas Burch.
After Barroso's goal, Fayetteville had two opportunities to even the score. With under 17 minutes remaining, a free kick from eight yards away was deflected by a wall of Springdale defenders. A few minutes later, Jonah Glover got an open look off of a deflection, but the sophomore's shot hit off of the right goal post.
Springdale Har-Ber 5, Van Buren 1
The Wildcats rolled to their seventh consecutive win Friday night on the road and moved to 10-1 overall (5-1 7A-West).
Esteban Fuentes and Juan Mejia scored first-half goals and took Har-Ber into halftime ahead 2-0. Fuentes then added two more goals in the second half to record a hat trick. Ivan Fuentes also scored for the Wildcats in the win.
Har-Ber returns home for two matches next week against Rogers Heritage and Rogers High.
Rogers High 4, Bentonville West 2
West remained winless in 7A-West Conference play as Rogers upended the Wolverines during Friday's match in Centerton.
Tyler Guentz had both goals for West (3-9-1, 0-6), with Tom Shultz and George Shultz providing the assists.
Sports on 04/08/2017