CENTERTON -- Springdale High's boys are piling up shutouts in 7A-West Conference play, and that brings a smile on coach D.J. Beeler's face.
The Red'Dogs never allowed Bentonville West any serious scoring opportunities and came away with a 4-0 victory over the Wolverines during Tuesday's match at Wolverine Stadium. It's the third shutout in as many league games for Springdale, which improved its overall mark to 8-1.
"We've really hung our hat on that during conference play," Beeler said. "We're proud of that, and I'm proud of way our guys played defense and pay attention to that side of the ball.
"That's important when you come out with a slow start, which happens from time to time. If you can defend well and keep yourself from going down a goal, you can get things corrected."
Springdale found scoring difficult through the first 30 minutes as clean shots at goal were difficult to find. That all changed with Salvador Gonzalez scored the first of his goals, nailing a kick from inside the box past West goalkeeper Jose Garcia and into the left side of the goal with 5 minutes, 28 seconds before halftime.
The Red'Dogs then picked up momentum and made it a 2-0 halftime when Jose Vega scored with 2:39 remaining. Manuel Soto continued the scoring when he hit his goal at the 37:43 mark of the second half, then Gonzalez struck again with his second goal 13 minutes later.
"When they got their first goal, we were defending a lot of the time but defending well and holding our own," said West coach John Marshall, whose team fell to 3-6-1 overall and 0-3 in 7A-West play. "When that first goal went in, we starting losing some of our defensive shape.
"They kept putting pressure on us. They got a great goal down the middle, which hurt us. In the second half, we didn't come out as strong as I hoped we would. I think our legs were getting tired because we were defending so much."
Rogers High 3, Fayetteville 1
The Mounties scored twice in the final 9:21 of regulation to secure the 7A-West victory.
Nelson Rivas' goal off a deflected shot served as the game-winner late in the second half. Rogers (4-3, 3-1) added to its lead when Alex Valdez punched in a penalty kick with 1:37 remaining to create the final margin.
The Mounties took a 1-0 lead when Jessie Ramirez scored off an assist by Giovanni Moreno with 28:42 to go in the first half.
Early in the second half, Fayetteville (4-4, 1-2) evened the score at 1-1 on a header by Sullivan Witte off a free kick by Lawson Templeton from midfield.
Rogers had 16 shots, including six on goal, as compared to seven and two, respectively, for the Bulldogs.
Rogers Heritage 4, Van Buren 0
Erol Banuelos had a hat trick, while Alex Perez added a goal and an assist to lead the War Eagles to the win.
Perez, Colton Gonzalez and Charlie Hernandez assisted on Banuelos' goals. Zach Gall got the assist on the Perez goal. Keeper Andrew Montoya had five save for the War Eagles (5-2, 1-2 7A-West).
Springdale Har-Ber 3, Bentonville High 1
Har-Ber did all of its scoring in the second half as the Wildcats handed Bentonville its first loss of the season.
Jose Castro gave the Tigers (3-1-1, 2-1) their only goal in the first half before Har-Ber rallied.
OTHER GAMES
Siloam Springs 6, Harrison 1
Siloam Springs (9-2, 2-0 5A/6A District 1) led 5-1 at halftime and scored another in the second half to set the final score at F.S. Garrison Stadium in Harrison.
Eli Jackson scored in the fifth minute on an assist by Aric Lee, followed by a goal by Austin Shull in the seventh minute assisted by Luke Gumm.
Francisco Sifuentes scored in the 30th minute on a Christian Marroquin assist, and Marroquin scored in the 37th minute off a pass from Noah Slater. The Panthers’ fifth goal of the first half came on Jackson’s second goal from Alejandro Telles.
The Panthers’ final goal came in the second half from Christian Ruiz-Vega off an Eduardo Rojas assist.
Vitor Fassbinder scored the lone goal for Harrison (3-4).
The Panthers defeated Muskogee, Okla., 3-1 on Monday at Panther Stadium. Jackson, Marroquin and Slater all scored goals for Siloam Springs.
Sports on 03/29/2017