Lady Wildcats are eliminated

El Dorado is dominated in loss to Siloam Springs

Tony Burns

Sports Editor

El Dorado’s girls got an up close inspection of what a perennial state championship soccer program looked like Saturday morning. Siloam Springs, the two-time defending 6A state champion, dominated the Lady Wildcats 6-0 in the semifinals of the state tournament at the El Dorado Soccer Complex.

The Lady Panthers improved to 12-8-1 and will play Russellville for the state title. The Lady Cyclones beat Searcy 2-1 in the other semifinal.

Siloam Springs, which will play in its four state final in a row, had more size, more speed, more experience and more depth than El Dorado, which finished its season with a 14-3 record.

“They were the better team. We were outclassed,” said El Dorado coach Neville Matthews. “They had more weapons than I had answers for. I mean, we were outclassed all the way around. We’re young. These guys have got a little more experience. We’ve got a lot of girls who like soccer. Those guys have a big program to pull from and they’ve got soccer players. We’ve got to develop them to compete at this level.

“I’m glad we can compete at this level. It was the best game we’ve played all season. It was the toughest game we’ve had all season. All in all, I’m not taking anything from them, we were just outclassed.”

It took some maneuvering but El Dorado managed to hang tough early despite an onslaught of offense by the Lady Panthers. Siloam Springs peppered senior goalkeeper Claire Lavoie with 16 shots in the first half.

The Lady Wildcats swapped offensive sparkplugs, Suzanna Haygood and Cross Hughes, to defense in order to stay close. The strategy worked for awhile along with Lavoie, who had six saves.

“I was trying to make some adjustments to see if I could counteract some of their attacks. Put some of my better athletes in the back to hold on and keep the score tied. Maybe we could get them into a shootout or maybe get one goal and bunker for time,” said Matthews. “But, they swing the ball well. They’ve got a lot of movement and they’ve got a lot of weapons. They’ve got a very deep bench. I didn’t have anyone on the bench who could come in and make a big difference.”

The game was scoreless until the 17:24 mark of the half when Audrey Maxwell scored off an assist by Megan Hutto.

The Lady Wildcats tried to stay within a single goal at the half but Siloam Springs’ attack was relentless. The ball was, almost, exclusively on El Dorado’s side of the field and frequently in front of the goal.

The Lady Panthers missed high and then hit the goal post before Maxwell crossed to Paige Thompson, who beat Lavoie for a 2-0 lead with 4:43 left in the half.

Siloam Springs’ two-goal advantage seemed insurmountable at the half.

“Even at 2-0, I thought we were in the game,” said Matthews. “But, they came out in the second half, it seemed like my guys … I think the reality set in a little bit.”

“At halftime, I felt like they were just done,” said Siloam Springs coach Brent Crenshaw. “They were tired. They had chased us around quite a bit. We’re pretty deep on the bench. Our off-season program is not easy. We’ve told them all year, there’s benefits to this. Yeah, skill-wise, I think we were better and two, we were able to outwork them, especially in the second half.”

Crenshaw said the two-goal lead relaxed his team.

“If you’re up one goal, they can regroup and it takes just one mistake by our backline for them to score and it’s a 1-1 game. That second goal before halftime, I think kind of relieved us so we could settle down and just play and not be so tight,” he said.

The Lady Panthers scored three-and-a-half minutes into the second half on Maycee Lance’s goal from Hutto’s assist.

Moments later, Siloam Springs was back on the doorstep. A shot ricocheted off the crossbar straight to the foot of a Lady Panther, who’s point-blank blast was saved by Lavoie.

But, the waves kept coming.

At the 27:52 mark, Maxwell scored again. Forty-five seconds later, Hadley Crenshaw got loose in front of the net and scored.

Lavoie recorded three more saves before Averie Headrick stole the ball at midfield and scored on a solo breakaway with 16:18 left for a 6-0 lead.

“Their captain, number three, she was a workhorse,” Crenshaw said of El Dorado’s Haygood. “I gave her a hug after the game. I know it’s tough for a senior to go out. But, you know, state semifinal, they did a great job.”

By stacking the defense, El Dorado only got off three shots in the game. The best scoring opportunity came in the final minutes when Siloam Springs’ back-up goalkeeper came up big from point-blank range.

“They didn’t create a whole lot of threat. I know they were defending a lot,” said Crenshaw. “Their goalkeeper was really good, too. They’re a good team. We were just able to finish our chances. And, I think our fitness, the second half, was better than theirs.”

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