Harrison responds with late goals

Mark Ross/Special to the Herald-Leader
Siloam Springs' Dylan Garcia (right) and Harrison's Will Mahoney battle for the ball during Thursday's game at Panther Stadium. Harrison won the game 3-1.
Mark Ross/Special to the Herald-Leader Siloam Springs' Dylan Garcia (right) and Harrison's Will Mahoney battle for the ball during Thursday's game at Panther Stadium. Harrison won the game 3-1.

Harrison boys soccer coach Chris Pratt knew Siloam Springs would have a strong response to the second half. He just hoped the Goblins would be able to match it.

In fact, that's just what Harrison did.

Siloam Springs scored a goal less than four minutes into the second half to tie Thursday's 5A-West Conference match.

But Harrison not only had an answer, they had two responses as the Goblins scored a pair of second half goals to take a 3-1 victory at Panther Stadium.

"We talked about at halftime they'd come out on fire, and I knew they would," Pratt said about Siloam Springs. "Coach motivated them. I told (our guys), if we gave up one we've just got to go back to work and see if we can even it back up or get the lead in that situation.

"We can score goals. it's just a matter of can we put together an 80-minute game?"

Harrison led 1-0 at halftime with the Goblins' goal coming from Jack Fenn off a corner kick from Brody Burge with 22 minutes, 51 seconds remaining in the first half.

Carlos Sandoval tied things up with a goal for Siloam Springs with 36:43 left in the second half.

But less than four minutes later, Harrison was back in front.

Stephen Kahn's high shot was out of reach for Siloam Springs goalkeeper Layne Mason and the Goblins went back in front with 33:09 remaining in the second half.

Harrison then went up 3-1 with a breakaway goal from Fenn, his second of the night, to put the game away.

"They're a good team," said Siloam Springs boys coach Craig Moses. "That second goal really hurt us. It was just a high ball and we kind of lost it in the air, and it just found a way in the back of the net. It's just one of those things that happens in soccer. Afterwards I thought we responded well. We attacked their goal a lot better tonight that we've attacked all year.

"We actually got some good opportunities, some good looks. We just couldn't find the back of the net. That's kind of been our MO all year. I thought a couple of times we were going to find the back of the net and tie it up again and it just didn't happen tonight. Then we let a guy get free on us there at the end, didn't mark up real well on that. That's something that's very fixable. That's one good thing about it. It is fixable."

The loss drops Siloam Springs to 1-10-2 overall and 1-4-2 in 5A-West play.

"Every day. they're still working hard," Moses said. "You've got to commend them on that. Like we just talked about, we're still not out of this. Now our margin of error is next to nothing. but we're definitely not out of it. We just got to come back Monday and work hard, keep up the grind and hopefully good things will happen tor us. A lot of its mental. The physical attributes are there. We've just got to lock it in mentally as a team."

If anyone on the outside knows Siloam Springs boys soccer it's Pratt, having played the Panthers every year either in conference or nonconference game.

"They get a win or two and that'll change things real quick," Pratt said of the struggling Panthers. "They just need a little confidence. They're young. They've had a lot of injuries. I can tell."

The Goblins meanwhile are 4-4-3 overall after winning at Siloam Springs and losing at Russellville on Friday.

Pratt said the road win Thursday was a big one.

"Huge," Pratt said. "We were hoping to get one point out of tonight. To get three is huge."

Van Buren 3, Siloam Springs 1

The Pointers scored a pair of second half goals to break a 1-1 tie at halftime.

Ramon Loyo scored the Panthers' goal and was assisted by Anthony Sandoval.

Up next

Siloam Springs travels to Mountain Home on Friday to open the second half of 5A-West Conference play. The Panthers lost 2-1 to the Bombers on March 10 at Panther Stadium.