SSHS boys win second straight

The Siloam Springs boys soccer team won its second straight match Tuesday with a 4-0 win against Alma at Airedale Stadium.

Franklin Cortez scored a pair of goals and an assist and Erik Gomez added a goal and assist as the Panthers (11-2, 7-2) shutout the Airedales to complete the season sweep.

"Coach (Cory) Sturdivant has made that program better and better since he started it back in 2018," said SSHS coach Luke Shoemaker. "They are a very defensive team, so finding a look against that can be difficult. We found a variety of ways to attack that defensive block and found a way to get some goals on the board and everyone on the team got good minutes because of that."

Cortez, who leads the Panthers with 16 goals and 14 assists, scored unassisted in the seventh minute to give Siloam Springs a 1-0 lead.

Cortez made it 2-0 in the 15th minute off a Gomez assist, and then Cortez assisted on Edwin Batres' goal in the 25th minute for a 3-0 lead, which the Panthers carried into halftime.

Gomez scored on a free kick in the 55th minute to set the final score.

The Panthers were scheduled to face Greenbrier on Friday but the game was postponed due to severe weather.

Siloam Springs and Greenbrier are now scheduled to play at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Panther Stadium. Siloam Springs will then play at Greenwood on Tuesday before hosting Russellville on Friday.

Siloam Springs defeated Greenbrier 3-0 at Greenbrier on March 18.

"We played Greenbrier before break, but they had a starting defender out with some issues," Shoemaker said. "They recently tied Russellville at their place because they just defend so well. Coach (Stephen) Brasher has them run a very compact 4-5-1 and they can counter with pace to their forward. It will be a big week for us with three conference games but I believe our guys will remained focus and give everything that they can in each game."