Last season, the Siloam Springs girls soccer team limped into the Class 6A state tournament. The Lady Panthers entered the tournament in El Dorado having lost five of their previous seven matches, only to win the next three straight and capture the program's third straight Class 6A state championship.
This season is a totally different story for Siloam Springs, but the Lady Panthers hope the outcome remains the same -- a fourth straight state title.
Siloam Springs girls soccer
2017 schedule
Date^Opponent^Time
Feb. 28^at Van Buren^W, 9-0
March 2^Springdale^W, 3-1
March 3^at Owasso, Okla.^L, 3-0
March 6^Grove, Okla.^W, 4-0
March 7^at Bentonville West^W, 6-1
March 9^Tahlequah, Okla.^W, 4-0
March 10^vs. Mount St. Mary#^L, 1-1 (4-3 PKs)
March 11^vs. Van Buren#^W, 7-0
March 11^vs. Mountain Home#^W, 1-1 (3-2 PKs)
March 16^Greenwood*^W, 6-0
March 27^Muskogee, Okla.^W, 3-0
March 28^at Harrison*^W, 3-2
April 7^at Gentry^W, 10-0
April 10^at Berryville^W, 4-0
April 11^at Clarksville*^W, 6-1
April 12^Russellville*^W, 2-1
April 14^Harrison*^W, 3-1
April 17^at Booker T. Washington^L, 4-3
April 18^at Greenwood*^W, 6-0
April 20^at Russellville*^W, 2-1
April 27^Clarksville*^W, 12-0
May 1^Greenwood%^W, 7-0
May 4^El Dorado%^W, 7-1
May 6^Russellville^W, 5-0
May 12^vs. TBA+^TBA
May 13^vs. TBA+^TBA
May 11-13^Class 6A State Tournament in Siloam Springs^TBA
May 19-20^State Finals^TBA
* 5A/6A District 1 match
# River Valley Cup at Smith-Robinson Stadium, Greenwood
% 6A-West Conference Tournament
+ Class 6A State Tournament in Siloam Springs
"We're going to just continue to be excited and never settle with anything less than our best and just keep playing hard to the end," said junior captain Meghan Kennedy.
Siloam Springs is on a six-game winning streak entering this week's Class 6A state tournament, which begins Thursday at Panther Stadium and Sager Creek Soccer Park. The Lady Panthers (21-3) have set a single-season record for wins and have outscored their opposition 115-19 on the year.
"Well, hopefully we haven't peaked too early," said second-year head coach Brent Crenshaw. "You never want to peak too early."
Crenshaw believes a change in the Lady Panthers' offseason may have helped the team once the 2017 regular season arrived.
During the fall, Crenshaw backed off of training sessions to allow the players to focus on their club teams. He did bring them in a little bit later in the fall, but they also had more down time during the holidays.
"I think they came out a little more refreshed, a little more focused and kind of ramped up to playing our best soccer at the end of April and beginning of May," Crenshaw said. "That's what we wanted to do. I think that really helped."
Not only have the Lady Panthers had a tremendous season as a team, but several individual players are on impressive runs as well.
Junior Audrey Maxwell broke the school record for goals scored in a season and continues to add to it. Currently, she's at 38 goals after a two-goal performance last Saturday in a 5-0 win against Russellville in the 6A-West Conference Tournament finals.
Maxwell also has 16 assists, which rank second on the team. Maxwell was quick to give credit to her teammates for a lot of her personal success.
"It's really awesome, and I'm not surprised by our girls, because they all work super hard," Maxwell said.
Junior Megan Hutto is second on the team with 22 goals, and tied a school record with 18 assists.
Junior Brooklyn Buckminster and sophomore Laura Morales are tied for third on the team with 10 goals, while Morales has 10 assists and Buckminster has nine.
Defensively, the Lady Panthers have posted 12 shutout victories.
Siloam Springs is looking forward to playing on its home field in the state tournament.
"I think it's going to be a really good advantage during this tournament and we're going to be rested and ready to go every time," Maxwell said.
Coaches will get the chance to spend Thursday scouting all the teams in the tournament, which wasn't the case last year in El Dorado.
"Last year we tried to go to El Dorado a day early so we could watch some of those teams, but we ended up just traveling all day with our team on Thursday," Crenshaw said. "So going into that first day with Benton girls and El Dorado boys, we just had no idea. You can't find film on them. You can't find anything. You don't know what you're up against. That's definitely an advantage Thursday. We can be here. We can scout the teams that are going to be playing."
Crenshaw agreed the Lady Panthers have a home field advantage.
"We don't have to travel, don't have to worry about those issues," he said. "We just have to worry about getting those kids ready to go play.
"But it's tournament time. Anything can happen. That's why they call it March Madness in basketball. You never know. A one seed can lose to a six seed. That's why you have to play the game. You never know. I like our chances. If we play like we're capable of and finish our chances that we get in front of the net, I don't think anybody can play with us in 6A."
Sports on 05/10/2017