The Siloam Springs' girls soccer team got a little payback on Thursday.
Siloam Springs avenged its only conference loss of the season with a 2-0 win against Greenbrier in a battle of Lady Panthers at Panther Stadium.
5A-West Conference girls soccer standings
^Overall^Conf.
Team^W-L^W-L
Siloam Springs^11-5^9-1
LR Christian^12-1-1^8-1
Russellville^9-5-1^6-3
Greenbrier^12-4^6-4
Vilonia^9-6^4-5
Greenwood^7-7-1^3-6
Alma^3-9^1-8
Beebe^2-12^0-9
LAST WEEK
Tuesday’s results
Siloam Springs 9, Alma 0
Russellville 3, Greenwood 2
Vilonia 7, Beebe 0
LR Christian 2, Greenbrier 0
Thursday’s results
Siloam Springs 2, Greenbrier 0
Beebe at Russellville (n)
Friday’s results
Alma at LR Christian (n)
Greenwood at Vilonia (n)
THIS WEEK
Tuesday’s games
Siloam Springs at Greenwood
Russellville at Alma
Beebe at LR Christian
Greenbrier at Vilonia
Thursday’s game
LR Christian at Siloam Springs
Friday’s games
Vilonia at Russellville
Greenwood at Beebe
Alma at Greenbrier
Madi Race and Laura Morales scored goals for Siloam Springs (11-5, 9-1), which remained tied for first place in the 5A-West Conference.
"The win honestly feels like a big rush toward us because it's also something we've been working hard for since the last time we played them," said Morales, who was also celebrating her 18th birthday. "We've always known that we're better than them and it's awesome that we proved it today."
Siloam Springs and Greenbrier played to a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation in the teams' first meeting on March 14 in central Arkansas. The game moved right to kicks from the spot to settle the tie, and Greenbrier outshot Siloam Springs 3-2 to grab the conference win.
That provided Siloam Springs with all the motivation it needed going into Thursday night.
"There was unfinished business," said Siloam Springs head coach Abby Ray. "We knew that the one team that we had lost to was coming here tonight. We were ready for them. Everything we did in practice this week was preparing for them. I think the girls took everything we did and put it into practice in the game. That's all you can ask."
Siloam Springs looked to be the more aggressive team in Thursday's match from the very start.
Siloam Springs had several shots on goal and it finally broke through for a tally in the 27th minute.
Hadley Crenshaw's shot hit the right post and the sophomore Race put it back in for her ninth goal of the season.
The score remained 1-0 most of the rest of the way, thanks to some strong defensive play by freshman goalkeeper Reina Tiefel, who had eight saves and recorded her ninth shutout of the season.
And even on a play where a ball got past Tiefel, freshman Bethany Markovich was there to clear the ball away to keep the 1-0 score.
"Everybody did their job tonight. From the forwards to the goalkeeper everybody did what they were supposed to do," Ray said. "Without Reina it's a completely different game. She played lights out. But our defense getting a shutout on that team, we've only given up five goals in conference, and two of them were to this team. To get the shutout on them this round, I thought that was impressive."
Morales gave Siloam Springs an insurance goal in the 77th minute for her team-leading 14th goal of the season.
"Laura's just a great kid, but she worked her tail off," Ray said. "Toward the end of the game it was getting pretty physical, and she kept working and she worked through it. Yeah, happy for her."
Greenbrier (12-4, 6-4), which was tied with Siloam Springs and Little Rock Christian for first place through the first round of league play, lost its third straight game.
"From my team's perspective, I'm dealing with a lot of injuries," said Greenbrier coach Larry Green. "I got some girls coming back. I got a lot of girls out. We just have people playing in different positions than they normally do. It's a good match. Siloam's a good team. I feel like we're a good team. They made better plays than we did today. That's the way I feel about it. I feel like we had our moments and didn't take advantage of it. They had theirs and they did."
Siloam Springs 9, Alma 0
The Lady Panthers scored seven of their goals in the second half to complete the mercy rule victory over the Airedales last Tuesday at Airedale Stadium.
Hadley Crenshaw scored her first career hat trick with three goals, while Maci Herrell scored two goals, and Shelby Johnson, Laura Morales, Maddie Vaughan and Sachi Lor each added single goals.
Bethany Markovich had two assists, while Madi Race, Brooklyn Shreve and Karen Flores each had assists.
Up next
The Lady Panthers are scheduled to return to 5A-West action this Tuesday at Greenwood before hosting Little Rock Christian on Thursday in a match that could decide the conference championship.
Siloam Springs beat Greenwood 1-0 at home on March 26 and won 1-1 (3-2 PKs) at Little Rock Christian on March 29.
"Little Rock Christian just beat Greenwood 6-0, so I don't know what to expect," Ray said. "You always know Greenwood is going to play hard. They're a physical team. We're going to have to go over and earn it there too. Little Rock Christian's a team that we've got to beat (next Thursday)."
Sports on 04/21/2019