Siloam Springs girls rally to win opening round game

Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader
Siloam Springs girls soccer players (from left) Chaney Stanaland, Mesa Broquard, Jetta Broquard and Ellen Slater celebrate after Jetta Broquard scored to give the Lady Panthers a 2-1 lead against Greene County Tech on Thursday in the opening round of the Class 5A state tournament.
Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader Siloam Springs girls soccer players (from left) Chaney Stanaland, Mesa Broquard, Jetta Broquard and Ellen Slater celebrate after Jetta Broquard scored to give the Lady Panthers a 2-1 lead against Greene County Tech on Thursday in the opening round of the Class 5A state tournament.

PARAGOULD -- Siloam Springs' girls soccer team was starting down a 1-0 deficit heading into halftime of Thursday's opening round of the Class 5A state tournament.

Greene County Tech's Mackenzie Souers had broke free for a goal in the 19th minute to give the Lady Eagles a 1-0 lead, and not much was happening for Siloam Springs.

The second half proved to be much better for the Lady Panthers.

Jetta Broquard scored a pair of second half goals and the Lady Panthers rallied for a 2-1 victory at Eagle Stadium on the campus of Greene County Tech.

"We talked all year about just doing the little things right," said SSHS girls coach Abby Jones. "So coming out in the second half it was more about winning the 50-50 balls, playing to feet -- I think they did a good job of that. It's hard to be down a goal and feel like your season could be ending. I think they had a lot of resilience, showed a lot of character, by going out in the second half and going to battle for the win."

Siloam Springs (15-4-2) plays at 10 a.m. Friday against 5A-Central No. 1 seed Pulaski Academy (18-1), which beat Sheridan 9-0 on Thursday.

Siloam Springs tied the match up less than seven minutes into the second half. Ellen Slater drove into the Lady Eagles' zone and passed ahead to Broquard, who scored the equalizer.

Broquard then scored off a Siloam Springs cornerkick from Abby Ballesteros with 22:30 remaining for the game-winner.

It was Broquard's team-leading 26th and 27th goals of the season.

"Jetta's been great for us all year," Jones said. "She and (sister) Mesa are so close in goals, and usually if one of them performs well we'll win the game. So Jetta will have a game, Mesa will have a game. It's really great when both of them go off. But I think that's the strength of our team, both of them score a lot of goals, but we have a lot of midfielders that also add to it."

Greene County Tech (14-8-1), the 5A-West No. 3 seed, which was playing in front of its home fans, was unable to mount much offense after the early goal.

"We knew at that point they were probably going to try and sit in and take us to the end on a 1-0 lead," Jones said. "I knew if we scored one we would win the game. We just had to get out of that hole and that's hardest part sometimes, digging yourself out of the hole."

photo Graham Thomas/Herald-Leader Siloam Springs junior Ellen Slater fights off a Greene County Tech player to gain possession during the opening round of the Class 5A state tournament on Thursday.