Breathtaking: Second-half goal enables Harrison to edge Pulaski Academy, 1-0, for 5A girls soccer title

By Buck Ringgold 

Photo of Class 5A girls soccer state champion Harrison 

CONWAY - Harrison seniors Clare Barger and Sydney Hobson clearly remember where they were the last time the Lady Goblins claimed a state championship.

They were sitting in the stands as eighth-graders, cheering on Harrison’s title team in 2019.

“(We were) just thinking, that could be us, that could be us one day,” Barger said.

That day occurred on Saturday.

Barger scored the game’s only goal nearly 10 minutes into the second half of Saturday’s Class 5A girls soccer title game, and Hobson made some key saves at keeper as Harrison edged a Pulaski Academy team that had lost just once over its previous 43 matches, 1-0, at Estes Stadium.

“This team has been wanting it for so long, and it just feels so good to end our season this way because we’ve just been wanting it and working for it for so long,” Barger said. “I’m so proud of this team; I couldn’t go out any other way with them.”

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Pulaski Academy entered Saturday’s game having won last season’s 5A championship, and had been 41-1-1 in its previous 43 matches. The Lady Bruins (20-2) also went into the game on a roll, having beaten their three playoff opponents by a combined score of 16-1.

But on Saturday, the Lady Goblins’ defense stymied PA all game long, and whenever the Lady Bruins did have moments to score, those either missed the target or Hobson came up with the save.

The win also avenged a loss to PA in the 2021 title match.

“We bent a little bit but we didn’t break, and that was huge, and then when we needed the keeper to make saves, she made them; when we needed defenders to block shots, they blocked them,” Harrison coach Chris Pratt said.

“I think our preparations on how we wanted to play this year, and being able to play a variety of styles, I think that helped us in a game like this. … We put in the effort we needed to, we had a great defensive game plan on them and it worked out but they’re a great team; they’ve beaten a ton of other teams in the state for sure.”

After a scoreless first half, it was a matter of which team was going to really break through. With 30:01 remaining, that team was Harrison.

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Barger received a long cross pass from teammate Marisol Hernandez. Upon getting the ball, Barger got loose on a breakaway, getting past both a PA defender and the goalkeeper.

She was in prime position a couple of yards in front of the goal to just knock it through, in what turned out to be the game’s lone score.

“Marisol (Hernandez) has always been known to play those balls to me, and so when I saw her send it, I just went after it and when I tapped it around the goalie, the thought in my mind was, ‘Yes!’” Barger said. “Then I finished it and everybody just celebrated, and it felt amazing to have my teammates celebrating my one goal to get the win for us.”

And in a game which seemed as if goals were going to be at a premium, it also gave the Lady Goblins (21-4-1) a sense of relief.

“It was like a moment of, we can almost breathe, because it had just been 0-0 for so long,” Barger said. “So we kind of took a breath and that stress of who’s going to get that first goal went away, and so it was just, ‘Can we stay composed and keep them from scoring?’”

Pratt also knew how important that goal turned out to be for the Lady Goblins.

“That was big, and that was just extra effort, changing gears to get there,” he said. “The timing was good and she was able to go right past the keeper with the ball, and those are things we don’t coach, those are things that just happen when you have great players on the field.”

PA continued to put pressure on Harrison, especially in the final minutes. A corner kick from Eva Dietz with more than four minutes left landed directly to Harrison’s Rylee Myers, who promptly swatted it away.

Then Hobson got her hands on a pair of shot attempts in the waning moments, saving the shutout, while Harrison also claimed its 13th title in program history.

“The last few seconds (was nerve-wracking), but I knew I had it; my team had my back,” Hobson said.

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Following the game, Barger was named the game’s MVP. Pratt, though, remarked Hobson was equally deserving of the honor.

“If we had two MVP’s, she would be right there with (Barger),” Pratt said.

“Every time (Harrison and PA) get together, it’s a battle. The last time, they beat us in the final in ’21. … So this was sweet to come back and win this one.”

6A Girls Soccer State Championship

Bentonville 3, Fayetteville 0

While the Lady Tigers had accomplished quite a bit in coach Steven Porter’s three-season tenure with the program, there was one thing that eluded them.

Finally, on Saturday, Porter’s resume was complete, as Bentonville broke through to give him his first title as the Lady Tigers’ coach, the program’s first since 2017.

“I feel very thankful; the girls have had a tremendous season, they’ve worked really hard,” Porter said. “I couldn’t feel more blessed and thankful for the players and parents, the school administration for all their support and my family.

“The last three years, we’ve been arguably amongst the top teams; we’ve won conference the past two years. … In the last three years, we’ve won 52 games now. We’ve gone out of state and beaten the best teams in Oklahoma, we’ve gone to Missouri and beaten teams, we’ve beaten everyone in state, but the one elusive title was state champion.”

That all changed with an impressive performance by the Lady Tigers (17-3-1). It was also the second time this month they shut out Fayetteville (16-2-2), having prevailed, 2-0, on May 5.

“(I told the players) just to be themselves, just to play their game,” Porter said. “They’ve played hard for so long all year, but the state tournament becomes a cup competition. The conference title is a league and we’ve proven it over the course of a period of time that we were the best team in 6A, but then we had to do it in a cup competition.

“But I feel like the girls did it in style; 3-1 (against Bentonville West in the quarterfinals), 3-0 (against Rogers in the semifinals), 3-0 (Saturday’s 6A title game).”

Bentonville got its opening goal on Saturday with 18:34 left in the first half, coming from Olivia Smith. It remained 1-0 until nearly five minutes into the second half, Amanda Schell delivered one home off of a throw-in.

Then the icing on the cake was delivered by Abbi Armstrong, on a goal with 6:51 remaining.

“We knew that we shut them out two weeks ago, so it was going to be a different game and we knew they were going to come out stronger,” Lady Tiger junior Kayla Hurley said. “We just needed to keep our own mindset and play our own game and not let what their game was going to be affect us.”

Though she didn’t score on Saturday, Hurley was awarded the game’s MVP trophy.

“She scored a goal in almost every single game this year for us throughout the season,” Porter said. “In her three years here, she has like 58, 59 goals now, and a ton of assists, and she does it again and again versus everybody.”

Hurley remarked she was surprised to receive the MVP honor, but gave credit to her teammates for doing their part in delivering a title to Bentonville.

“We just had to go into it really focused and we had to lock in and have the right mindset, and we just had to realize this was our last game as a team and we just had to give it our all and just do what we’ve always do and stay focused and just pass the ball,” Hurley said.

“It feels amazing; I’m so happy, we’ve been waiting so long for this. … I think our defense did amazing with the shutout and our keepers did amazing with every save and our midfield did an amazing job keeping the ball and our forwards did an amazing job scoring, so just overall, I’m so proud of my team.”