Jaci Hoelscher has plenty of big-game experience in her athletic career at Siloam Springs.
Hoelscher, a senior, has already played in three state championship games -- two in soccer and one in basketball -- and she hopes to make it a fourth after this week as the Siloam Springs girls soccer team heads to Searcy for the Class 6A girls state soccer tournament.
The defending state champion Lady Panthers (11-4) earned the No. 1 seed out of the 7A/6A-Central after going 3-1 against 6A conference opponents Greenwood and Russellville. They're scheduled to play at 10 a.m. Friday in the quarterfinals against the winner of Thursday's match between South No. 4 Texarkana and East No. 3 Jonesboro.
Hoelscher knows the Lady Panthers will have a target on their back this week.
"I think that since we've already won (the state championship) once, everybody wants to beat us," Hoelscher said. "They want to say that they took out the No. 1 seed and defending state champs. I think we have to stay calm and not get too big-headed."
Hoelscher is in the sunset of what has been a solid four-year career on the soccer field for the Lady Panthers. She's played varsity for the Lady Panthers since she was a freshman and has always had to overcome a delayed start on the field each season because she played basketball.
This year she was delayed even more because of the Lady Panthers' run to the Class 6A state basketball finals, which was played on March 13. Hoelscher said at the end of basketball season that she did some extra running at the end of practice to try and get a head start getting into soccer shape.
"It was different going from the court to the field and playing with my feet instead of my hands," Hoelscher said. "That's always been hard."
Hoelscher came off the bench for her first three games after rejoining the team in late March, but since then she's worked her way into the starting lineup at center midfielder.
"I just knew that while I was still with basketball, I wasn't going to get my starting spot (in soccer) handed to me," Hoelscher said. "I was going to have to go come back and prove that I needed to be out there."
Hoelscher's come up big for the Lady Panthers over the course of her career.
In the 6A state semifinals last year in Russellville, she scored both of Siloam Springs' goals in a 2-1 extra time victory over host Russellville to advance to the state finals. Siloam Springs would go on to defeat Mountain Home in penalty kicks to win the program's first state title after a runner-up finish in 2013.
This year she's scored key goals in helping the Lady Panthers earn a No. 1 seed.
On April 14 at Panther Stadium, Hoelscher scored on a header for the game's only goal in a 1-0 win against Russellville in an important 6A conference game. Hoelscher also scored in a penalty kicks period at Russellville on May 5 as the Lady Panthers edged the Lady Cyclones 3-2 in a shootout after a scoreless regulation.
"I don't know what it is about Russellville, but I have my best games against them I guess," she said.
Siloam Springs soccer coach Chuck Jones said he's proud of the season Hoelscher is having.
"She gives us a good, physical presence in the middle," Jones said. "She's good with her head. Last year she scored a few goals for us that way. She gives us that experience and that presence in the middle. She's had a great season. I feel like she's playing the best soccer I've ever seen her play."
If the Lady Panthers win their first-round game on Friday, they'll play again in the semifinals at 10 a.m. on Saturday, which would force Hoelscher and the team's other seniors to miss their high school graduation, which is at 1 p.m. at Barnhill Arena on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
And that would be OK with Hoelscher.
"I know some people are bummed out about it," Hoelscher said, "but I think I'd rather be there (in Searcy) in the state tournament. I'd rather win another state championship than walk (at graduation) I think. They just give you a piece of paper and mail you your diploma."
Sports on 05/13/2015