Fayetteville bounces back from early mistake

FAYETTEVILLE -- An early mistake put Fayetteville in unfamiliar territory Tuesday. The Lady Bulldogs wasted no time, however, to take their 7A-West girls soccer match from a slow start to a favorable finish. A handball violation against Fayetteville in just the third minute of play set Rogers Heritage up with a quick penalty kick. Bailee Russell converted for the Lady War Eagles, putting Fayetteville in an early hole. But the Lady Purple'Dogs went right back on the attack, benefiting from a strong wind at their backs in the first half to score three goals over the next 30 minutes. Those three goals certainly could have been more, as Heritage prevented other Fayetteville scoring opportunities. But the first-half flurry was also enough, as the Lady'Dogs posted a 3-1 win to remain unbeaten in 7A-West Conference play. "That was kind of a sad way to give up our first goal in a conference game," Fayetteville girls soccer coach Joe Thoma said. "Not even sure what happened but we touched it on the arm and they get the goal. "But I'm proud of the girls. I thought we played hard. I thought we could have put up a few more scores but Heritage did a good job. We would have liked to have gotten that three goal win but the 7A-West is tough." Fayetteville (7-2, 5-0 7A-West) evened the match with 33:32 left in the first half on a corner from Cassidy Sykes to Payton Woodward. Sykes then was instrumental in the go-ahead score, breaking free before finding Gabbie Foster from the left wing for a 2-1 lead with 16:59 before the half. "(Cassidy) draws so many people to her," Thoma said. "They're worried about her being able to score and when she's out there looking for the assist, that was fun to watch." Fayetteville playing with the win at its back was a strategy to start the match. And it worked, as the Lady Bulldogs controlled possession for most of the first 40 minutes. "They had the wind and that made it tough," Rogers Heritage coach Craig Frank said. "We were just trying to hold on and then they got the lead. And when Fayetteville gets the lead, they're tough to beat." Fayetteville visits Rogers High on Friday and Heritage (7-3, 3-2) is at Bentonville on Friday. Bentonville 2, Rogers High 1 Melanie Matkins scored on a penalty kick with 7:22 remaining as Bentonville remained unbeaten in 7A-West play with a come-from-behind win over Rogers. Rogers led 1-0 at halftime, and Bentonville (8-1) didn't get on the scoreboard until Alyssa Carlson's goal tied the game with 8:48 remaining. Matkins then nailed the penalty kick after Carlson had been taken down in the box. BOYS Rogers Heritage 1, Fayetteville 0 Pablo Garcia scored the only goal of the match for the War Eagles (8-1-1, 4-1), breaking past the Fayetteville defense with 35:27 left in the second half for a free look at the goal against an unguarded net and the lead held up the rest of the way. The Bulldogs (5-4-1, 2-3) appeared to take an early lead in the match, but a Harry Morante score was taken off the board for offsides.

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Fayetteville High School Athletics

FAYETTEVILLE BOUNCES BACK FROM EARLY MISTAKE

VERNON TARVER

NWADG | 4/6/2016

PHOTO CREDIT: Fayetteville Athletics