It's amazing to think back on the how the local soccer scene was different on the night of April 20, 2007.
On that particular night, there was a pretty important 7A-West Conference girls match at Gates Stadium in Rogers, which at the time was still the home field of Rogers High School.
The Bentonville Lady Tigers and Rogers Lady Mounties played that night with first place and a No. 1 playoff seed on the line for the upcoming Class 7A State Tournament.
Soccer was my beat then on the Benton County Daily Record sports desk. I'd had that game circled on my calendar for weeks.
At the time, Rogers was the three-time defending state champion. The Lady Mounties were THE team to beat in the entire state. Bentonville -- a young and talented group -- was trying to reach that level.
Rogers beat Bentonville that night 1-0 and earned the No. 1 seed.
That was the last time Bentonville's girls lost a conference game. Until last Friday.
Bentonville's girls had reeled off 43 straight conference wins from the beginning of 2008 through one game into the 2014 season.
The Siloam Springs Lady Panthers ended that streak with a 2-1 win in PKs at Bentonville's Tiger Athletic Complex last Friday.
Siloam Springs outshot Bentonville 7-6 in penalty kicks to grab the win after ending regulation tied 1-1. Lady Panthers senior goalkeeper Bailei Brown made the key save on the seventh Bentonville penalty kick, and then Lady Panthers junior Jaci Hoelscher converted Siloam Springs' seventh try for the win.
If there was ever a defining moment for a soccer program, this was it.
Not only did the Lady Panthers end Bentonville's streak, but it was the program's first-ever win against the Lady Tigers. There were some close games early in coach Jason Bowen's tenure here, but for the most part all the games against Bentonville had been blowouts.
Let's go back again to that April night in 2007. Remember when I said the Lady Tigers lost to Rogers 1-0 with the conference title and No. 1 seed on the line?
Well as it turns out, Bentonville got the last laugh as the program would go on to win the state championship that year. Rogers got upset in the Class 7A semifinals, while Bentonville advanced to the final and won 1-0 against Little Rock Central.
Bentonville has reached the state championship game six straight seasons since then and won three more state titles.
The Lady Tigers' program is now the program every other program in the state tries to emulate.
For Siloam Springs to notch a victory against the giant of the 7A-West is really a big deal.
A friend of mine, who's also a head girls soccer coach in the conference, blew up my phone Friday night questioning if the news was true. He said his own set of parents were blowing up his phone, asking if the Lady Panthers had indeed sprung the upset.
When I confirmed the news, he replied, "This opens up the whole conference."
And just think, it was 6A school Siloam Springs that did it.
-- Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at [email protected]. The opinions expressed are those of the author.
Sports on 04/16/2014