Siloam Springs Boys, Van Buren Battle To 4-4 Nonconference Tie

Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader Siloam Springs and Van Buren battled through rain and a muddy field in a nonconference soccer game on Monday at Glenn W. Black Stadium. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.
Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader Siloam Springs and Van Buren battled through rain and a muddy field in a nonconference soccer game on Monday at Glenn W. Black Stadium. The game ended in a 4-4 tie.

Siloam Springs was fortunate Monday's boys soccer game against Van Buren didn't count in the 7A/6A-West Conference standings.

The Panthers went to sleep for a five-minute period at the end of the first half, allowing Van Buren to score three goals to take a 3-2 lead.

Siloam Springs 4, Van Buren 4

Van Buren 3 1 — 4

Siloam Springs 2 2 — 4

First Half

Siloam Springs — Dominguez, 34:40

Siloam Springs — A. Umana, 18:04

Van Buren — Torres, 5:05

Van Buren — Rodriguez, 2:28

Van Buren — Osorio, 0:42

Second Half

Van Buren — Torres, 24:47

Siloam Springs — A. Umana, 22:43

Siloam Springs — Dominguez, 18:34

The Pointers went ahead by two goals in the second half before the Panthers were able to rally for a 4-4 draw on a rainy night at Glenn W. Black Stadium.

Had it been a conference game, the match would have gone to a shootout to break the tie at the end of regulation. Instead both teams had to settle for the tie.

Both team's coaches -- Siloam Springs' Jason Bowen and Van Buren's Nathan Almond -- expressed both excitement and disappointment in the result.

For Siloam Springs, Bowen said the Panthers showed some grit after giving up a 2-0 lead and falling behind 4-2 after four straight Van Buren scores.

"We were resilient," Bowen said. "We fought back to get it back to 4-4."

Overall, however, Bowen said he was disappointed in the game.

"We're much better than that," he said. "I'm disappointed in the way that we played tonight. That's not the team that we are."

The Panthers (7-3-1) appeared to have things under control in the first half, despite a steady rain falling since the start of the game.

Alejandro Dominguez scored the game's first goal off a cornerkick by Aldair Umana within the sixth minute of the match.

With 18:04 left in the first half, Umana made it 2-0 on a driving goal down the left side.

The Pointers (1-8-1) came to life late in the first half.

Kevin Torres scored in the 35th minute to cut the lead to 2-1, and with 2:28 left Brad Rodriguez tied the game 2-2 with a goal.

Luis Osorio gave the Pointers a 3-2 lead with 42 seconds left before halftime with another goal.

"(Van Buren) never let off of us. They pushed numbers up," Bowen said. "We didn't adjust well. We had some backline issues where we didn't play like we were supposed to."

Torres put Van Buren ahead 4-2 in the 56th minute with his second goal of the night.

"We haven't scored goals, so I felt good about putting four on the board," Almond said. "I thought we had some other opportunities. We had some chances."

With field conditions rapidly deteriorating and the surface becoming a muddy mess, the Panthers were able to fight back.

Umana scored off a set play where James Pollard sliced a free kick down the right side and a wide-open Umana caught up with it with 22:43 left.

Umana then assisted on Dominguez's equalizer with 18:34 left in the game to knot the score at 4.

Almond said he was disappointed the Pointers were unable to finish off the Panthers once they had a two-goal lead.

"We should have finished the game," he said. "When you go up 4-2, you've got to put the game away."

Both teams had shots at game-winning goals in the final minutes.

Siloam Springs goalkeeper Lucas Nitz had several saves in the the final minutes to keep the game tied.

"He did a good job for the most part saving us," Bowen said. "Our backline didn't do their job to keep him out of pressure."

The two teams will play in a 7A/6A-West match May 8 on the artificial surface at Blakemore Field in Van Buren.

"It's going to be a little better surface," Almond said. "I don't know that doesn't help Siloam more than it helps us. We'll just see. Coach Bowen's a good coach. He'll have his guys ready to play.

"If we found something here, if we can put goals on the board, we'll have a chance to win."

Siloam Springs plays Friday at Bentonville in a conference game. The Panthers are 0-1 in league play after losing to Springdale 2-0 last week.

"It'll be a good challenge," Bowen said of the game against Bentonville. "We're looking forward to it."

Sports on 04/09/2014