Panthers' lead disappears in finals

Siloam Springs' boys soccer team was not in top form last weekend in the inaugural Panther Classic, but despite that the Panthers still were in a position to take home the tournament championship.

But it wasn't meant to be.

Fort Gibson (Okla.) scored a pair of goals in a time span of less than 80 seconds in the second half to turn a 2-1 halftime deficit into a 3-2 victory on Saturday night at Panther Stadium.

Siloam Springs finished the tournament with a 2-1 record. The Panthers scored a pair of second half goals to defeat McAlester, Okla., 2-0 on Friday night, and then scored two goals in the final 10 minutes on Saturday afternoon to rally past Holland Hall (Okla.) 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

"We were kind of lucky to get into the final," said Panthers head coach Brent Crenshaw. "I don't think we played really well all weekend. Just simple things, not connecting on our passes. We're not marking up goal side. We're not marking up when we lose possession. First touch is off. We just didn't play very well. We played hard, just didn't play very well."

In the championship against Fort Gibson, the Panthers gave up an early goal in the second minute of the match when Fort Gibson's Colby Leonard blew past the Panthers' back line for a goal and a 1-0 lead.

Fort Gibson had more quality chances later in the first half, and the Tigers had a goal wiped off the board by an offsides call that would have given them a 2-0 lead.

Siloam Springs tied the match 1-1 with 8:02 left in the half when Jack Bos scored off a Christian Marroquin assist.

Just a little more than three minutes later, the Panthers took a 2-1 lead when Noah Slater connected on a pass from Francisco Sifuentes with 4:54 left in the first half.

Siloam Springs carried that 2-1 lead into halftime and led until 27:45 left in the second half when Leonard found the back of the net again for Fort Gibson.

A Tigers shot ricocheted off Siloam Springs goalkeeper Wyatt Church, and Leonard caught the rebound and fired a rocket to tie the score 2-2.

Just 74 seconds later, with 26:31 remaining, Fort Gibson's Grayson Ramey scored to give Fort Gibson a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

"That's the frustrating part," Crenshaw said. "We were up 2-1. We knew that had two really good forwards, so we went to two holding center mids at halftime to help our center backs with that. So we had four guys marking two of their forwards and they score two from right at that spot. That's the frustrating part.

"Knowing we're up a goal at halftime, we've got to clean things up in the back so we're going to play two holding center mids. We just ball-watched. We don't mark up. We don't challenge for the ball. It's just frustrating."

The Panthers were able to get a few scoring chances the rest of the way but couldn't convert.

Fort Gibson (7-2) finished the tournament 3-0. The Tigers defeated the Siloam Springs junior varsity team 5-0 on Friday afternoon and then defeated Oklahoma Class 6A power Jenks 1-0 on Saturday morning to reach the finals.

"That Jenks game, we knew that in Oklahoma Jenks is a 6A team and they're pretty big-time," said Fort Gibson coach Todd Friend. "So we said if we get up a goal, we're going to play defense. You could tell. They had the ball and played possession most of the time.

"In the final (against Siloam Springs), I didn't know what we had left energy-wise. Siloam played a great game, and we were fortunate to put in a couple in the second half that put us on top."

Crenshaw gave credit to Fort Gibson for a well-played match and tournament.

"We were under constant pressure with Fort Gibson," he said. "They have good athletes and good players."

Siloam Springs 2, Holland Hall 1

Holland Hall scored with 13:20 left in the second half to take a 1-0 lead, but the Panthers responded with a pair of goals to take the 2-1 victory.

With 9:53 left, Christian Ruiz-Vega was fouled inside the 18-yard box and Siloam Springs was awarded a penalty kick. Christian Marroquin successfully converted the PK to tie the game 1-1.

The Panthers scored the go-ahead goal with 2:37 left in the match when Luke Gumm served up a ball near the Dutch goal. Jack Bos was able to get a head on it for the game-winner.

Wyatt Church made a strong save with 1:37 left to help preserve the victory.

Panthers JV goes 1-2

The Siloam Springs junior varsity had to play three games in the tournament because of a late dropout by a team that was scheduled to play in it.

The JV Panthers finished 1-2, but could have easily been 2-1.

After the 5-0 loss to Fort Gibson on Friday, the Panthers regrouped and played Greenwood to a 1-1 tie in regulation on Saturday morning. The Bulldogs outshot the Panthers 5-4 in penalty kicks to get the win.

"In the first match, Fort Gibson may have been more skilled, as was seen by their tournament victory, but I didn't think they were five goals better," said Panthers assistant coach Luke Shoemaker. "We came out flat and the overall effort needed to compete was just not there and our boys knew that.

"In the Greenwood game we came out and looked like an entirely different team. We started to find a rhythm as a team and the boys worked their tails off. Losing in kicks from the mark always leaves a bad taste in your mouth."

Miguel Granados scored the goal in regulation, while Julio Maldanado, Kevin Rueda, Eli Simpson, Jose Posada all converted their PKs.

The JV Panthers then defeated McAlester, Okla., 2-1 in the seventh-place game on Saturday afternoon.

Christian Flores and Brian Andrade scored goals for the Panthers, who improved to 4-7-2 on the season.

"In the final game, we put together a solid 70 minutes of soccer," Shoemaker said. "We possessed the ball for the majority of the game and had several scoring opportunities. I challenged them to outscore the varsity group that had two goals on McAlester the night before and they answered the call. Hopefully this game will show them what it takes to be successful not only in JV but on the varsity level going forward."

Successful tournament

The Siloam Springs boys and girls soccer programs will be hosting the Class 6A State Tournament on May 11-13, and with the success of the Panther Classic and the junior varsity festival held earlier in the season, Crenshaw said the program is ready for state.

"We had a good time. It was a great tournament," Crenshaw said. "We had great teams here. All the coaches were great. All the games were pretty competitive. It was good to see some of my old Oklahoma friends."

Crenshaw gave a shout-out to his group of parents for a job well-done over the weekend.

"My parents are awesome. You can't ask for more help," Crenshaw said. "They ran the concessions, helped with hospitality upstairs, did all kinds of little things behind the scenes that people don't see. Our parents are top notch."

Up next

The Panthers (11-3) and Lady Panthers (10-2) were scheduled to host Russellville on Tuesday at Panther Stadium. Results were not available at presstime. The varsity girls are scheduled to play at Gentry on Friday.