Lady Panthers settle for draw

n Siloam Springs’ performance Tuesday against the Lady Rams was better than in previous years.

Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs senior goalkeeper Sydney Bomstad corrals an Owasso, Okla., shot on goal late in the second half Tuesday at Panther Stadium. The Lady Panthers and Lady Rams played to a 1-1 draw.
Graham Thomas/Siloam Sunday Siloam Springs senior goalkeeper Sydney Bomstad corrals an Owasso, Okla., shot on goal late in the second half Tuesday at Panther Stadium. The Lady Panthers and Lady Rams played to a 1-1 draw.

The Siloam Springs girls soccer team has had plenty of success the last four seasons in winning four straight state championships, but none of it has come at the expense of the Owasso Lady Rams.

Owasso thumped the Lady Panthers in each of the last two seasons, winning 3-0 in Siloam Springs and 4-0 in Owasso last year.

But on Tuesday night, there was no intimidation from the Lady Panthers, who can make a solid argument that they should have beaten the Lady Rams. Instead a self-inflicted mistake forced the Lady Panthers to settle for a 1-1 tie on a chilly evening at Panther Stadium.

"The last two years they've really owned us," said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. "And I was proud of my girls because this is the first time in three years they believed they could actually play and they did. The last two years they lost the game before they ever stepped on the field, mentally. This year I kept telling them they could play with this team and they believed me. They went out and they competed. I would have liked to have had the win, but it's better than what it's been the last couple of years."

Siloam Springs took a 1-0 lead in the first half when Megan Hutto found Laura Morales for the game's first goal.

Siloam Springs had more chances to score in the first half but was unable to convert.

Morales had another chance at a goal in the second half, going one-on-one with Owasso's goalkeeper but her shot when over the crossbar.

Those missed chances proved costly.

The Lady Rams were able to tie the game with just seconds left before halftime when the Lady Panthers tried to play the ball back to goalkeeper Sydney Bomstad and Owasso's Kassidy Collins intercepted it and scored on the play.

"They made a mistake and we made them pay for it," said Owasso coach Sam Bowers, who added that the mistake was the only reason his squad forged a tie.

"Trust me, (Siloam Springs) outplayed us tonight," said Bowers. "They'll compete for a state championship in Arkansas, absolutely."

Bowers was coaching against his former player in Crenshaw, who he coached at Catoosa, Okla. The two worked together prior to Crenshaw coming to Siloam Springs when Crenshaw was head boys soccer coach at Owasso.

"That's why we kind of liked this rivalry when he moved over to Arkansas," Bowers said. "It's good. Tonight was a really competitive game. The last few years it's kind of been one sided.

"I enjoy coming over here," Bowers added. "It's a nice place and I like it. His kids always play hard. The funny thing is you can see him running my set pieces. They're the same thing. I'm telling the kids, 'this is what he's going to do. Where do you think he learned it?'"

Tulsa Edison 0, Siloam Springs 0 (4-2 PKs)

TULSA, Okla. -- The Lady Panthers fell to 7-2-2 overall Thursday with a penalty kicks loss at Tulsa Edison.

After a scoreless regulation, the game went into a PKs period, where Edison outshot Siloam Springs 4-2.

Megan Hutto and Brooklyn Buckminster successfully converted their penalty kicks, while Meghan Kennedy and Sydney Bomstad missed.

Up next

The Lady Panthers are off on spring break and are scheduled to return to action Monday, March 26, at Grove, Okla. The team has completed a difficult first half of the schedule and is set to begin 5A/6A District 1 games March 27 against Harrison.

"I made the schedule really brutal for them, because we needed the challenge," Crenshaw said. "Owasso is a 6A team in Oklahoma, which is like 7A in Arkansas -- fourth largest school in Oklahoma. We went over to Bentonville and played in that tournament. We played Rogers. Van Buren is a 7A team. Bentonville West is a 7A team. So we've had some very tough games to prepare us for conference play. To be 7-2-2 now, that's pretty good I think going forward having played the competition we've played so far."

Sports on 03/18/2018