Carson Wleklinski never expected to be the hero Thursday night, but that's exactly how it turned out.
Wleklinski, a junior center back for the Siloam Springs boys soccer team, scored on a header with 12 minutes, 23 seconds remaining to break a scoreless tie and give Siloam Springs a 1-0 win against Greenbrier in a battle of Panthers at Panther Stadium.
5A-West Conference boys soccer standings
^Overall^Conf.
Team^W-L^W-L
Russellville^12-3-1^9-1
Siloam Springs^12-4^8-2
LR Christian^9-3^7-2
Greenbrier^10-6^5-5
Greenwood^7-8^4-5
Beebe^4-7^3-7
Alma^3-9-1^2-7
Vilonia^0-10-1^0-9
LAST WEEK
Tuesday’s results
Siloam Springs 6, Alma 0
Russellville 1, Greenwood 0
Beebe 7, Vilonia 2
LR Christian 1, Greenbrier 0
Thursday’s results
Siloam Springs 1, Greenbrier 0
Russellville 4, Beebe 1
Friday’s results
Greenwood at Vilonia (n)
Alma at LR Christian (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
Wleklinski connected on a cornerkick from Eli Jackson as Siloam Springs finally cracked the mystery that had been Greenbrier goalkeeper Shawn Graham, who had shutout Siloam Springs 2-0 on March 14 and had made several spectacular stops on Thursday.
It was Wleklinski's first goal of the season and he agreed that it was sort of unexpected for him to score the game winner.
"If you told me it was going to be me I would have said the same thing, but their goalkeeper was really good," Wleklinski said. "We had a lot of chances. He kept coming back. I just knew we had to get one in. That was all we needed."
Wleklinski gave credit to his teammate Jackson for giving him a good ball to connect on. It was Jackson's 11th assist.
"Eli just played a perfect ball in on the cross," he said. "I kept going back post, because I knew a ball was going to slip through. It just met perfectly. I put her in the back of the net."
Wleklinski was a bit late joining the soccer team in the spring because he also plays basketball.
It took a few games to get up to speed, but he eventually moved into the starting lineup on the Siloam Springs defense.
"I coached Carson when he was a freshman and I paired him and Thad (Wright) together," said Siloam Springs coach Luke Shoemaker. "I thought when they're juniors and seniors, they'll be a force to be reckoned with. When I came back I saw Carson a little bit this fall before he went to basketball and we were scrimmaging. I thought this kid's going to start for us. I just need him to get back from basketball first."
Up to Wleklinski's goal, it was mostly frustration for Siloam Springs as Graham turned away shot after shot.
It was looking like the first meeting back in March, according to Siloam Springs head coach Luke Shoemaker.
"I've been coaching high school for seven years now. He's the best goalkeeper I've ever seen on opposing team," Shoemaker said of Graham. "The reason they clean-sheeted us at their place was he might have made 30 saves. And tonight he was standing on his head. I told him after the game he's one of the best ones I've ever seen."
Greenbrier coach Steve Jones agreed that Graham is a difference maker.
"He's been good for us for two years," Jones said. "He made a bunch of reaction saves. He's great."
Greenbrier (10-6, 5-5) fell into fourth place in the league with the loss.
With the win, Siloam Springs (12-4, 8-2) remained in second place behind Russellville in the 5A-West Conference with four games remaining. Siloam Springs has won five straight games.
"They're great," Jones said of Siloam Springs. "They have great athletes. They're well coached. Wish it would have been different but proud of our guys and proud of their effort, too."
Siloam Springs 6, Alma 0
The Panthers scored all six goals in the first half on their way to a mercy rule win at Airedale Stadium.
Six different Panthers -- Eli Jackson, Christian Flores, Jose Posada, Hugo Hernandez, Gerson Matias and Franklin Cortez -- all scored goals.
Christian Marroquin had two assists, while Eleazar Palacios and Matias also had assists.
Up next
The Panthers return to 5A-West Conference action at Greenwood on Tuesday before hosting Little Rock Christian on Thursday.
"It doesn't get any easier for our next three," Shoemaker said. "We go to Greenwood, which Greenwood beat Greenbrier. We've got Little Rock Christian, who we also owe another one, and we've still got Russellville (on April 30). We've still got all our goals in front of us and if we continue to win we can win this conference."
Sports on 04/21/2019