Siloam Springs and Searcy's girls soccer teams have played in several meaningful games over the last few years.
The Lady Panthers and Lady Lions will add another chapter at noon on Friday when they meet in the Class 5A state championship game at the Benton Athletic Complex.
It will be the sixth time to the two teams have played since originally playing for a state championship in 2013, which Searcy won 3-1.
Siloam Springs defeated the Lady Lions 1-0 in the 2015 state finals and hammered Searcy 5-1 in the 2018 semifinals.
Searcy has won the last two meetings, defeating Siloam Springs 1-0 in the 2019 state quarterfinals at Searcy and 1-0 in the quarterfinals at Siloam Springs in 2021. Searcy went on to win the Class 5A state championship in 2021.
Certainly there's plenty of history between the two teams.
"This is the team we wanted to face in the finals," said Siloam Springs head coach Abby Ray.
Siloam Springs (20-3) enters the state tournament on a 17-game winning streak, including a perfect 14-0 run through the 5A-West Conference.
The Lady Panthers' three losses came to Class 6A powers Fayetteville, Bentonville and Bentonville West, who all reached the semifinals of the largest classification's state tournament.
Searcy, meanwhile, went 17-2-1 and went undefeated through the 5A-East Conference.
"Searcy won't be the best team we have faced this season, but we will be the best team they have faced," Ray said. "They watched all three of our state games, with zero assurance that either of us would even be in the finals. That shows the respect they have for us."
Ray said all 23 of the Lady Panthers' players saw playing time in the state tournament last week.
The Lady Panthers are led offensively by sophomore Jetta Broquard, who leads the team with 28 goals and 14 assists.
Senior Halle Hernandez has 17 goals and 10 assists, while senior Karen Flores has 13 goals and 12 assists.
Abygail Ballesteros has eight goals, while Bethany Markovich and Ellen Slater each have five goals.
Cailee Johnson has nine assists, while Ballesteros and Slater each have seven.
"We are a hard team to scout because you can't focus on any single player as a standout," Ray said. "Even as we sub throughout the game we consistently have 11 players on the field who are all a threat. This is what has made us a force this season. There is literally no weak spot on the field."
Ray said the team concept is something that's been big all season.
"Every player, manager, coach knows they have a job to do, a role to fulfill," she said. "We don't rely on any single person but on every member of the team to do their part. It truly has been a team effort this season. We have numerous scoring threats, a solid defensive line backed up by a great goalkeeper, a midfield that out possesses every team we play and a bench that out yells the opponent every game.
We knew we had potential to go far this season. Anytime we didn't play to that potential we took it personally and forced ourselves to strive for more. We never settled but always tried to rise to a higher level of play."