FAYETTEVILLE — Offense was hard to come by most of Thursday night at Harmon Stadium, until one particular six-minute stretch late in the second half.
Fayetteville struggled through a sluggish first-half, but benefited from a penalty call just before intermission to avoid going into the break down to visiting Springdale High. Then, after playing much of the second half on the attack, the Lady Purple’Dogs finally saw their work pay off when Gabbi Foster broke past the Springdale defense for a go-ahead goal with 11 minutes, 22 seconds remaining.
Cassidy Sykes added another score for Fayetteville with 5:44 remaining, and the Lady’Dogs held on for a 3-2 win against Springdale in 7A/6A-West Conference play.
“We talked at halftime about going more at the goal and not kicking from afar,” Fayetteville girls soccer coach Joe Thoma said. “We pushed three forwards up, which helped, and Cassidy and Gabbi kind of got rolling there. We got some better balls for them to work with.”
Springdale (9-6-2, 1-5 7A/6A-West) kept the pressure on Fayetteville for much of the contest. The Lady Red’Dogs had few scoring chances in the first half, but took advantage on their opportunity when Brittany Jurgens scored for a 1-0 lead 10:17 before the halftime break.
Fayetteville then tied the game at 1-1 on a Taylor Ward penalty kick two minutes before intermission.
“I’m so proud of the way the girls maintained their composure,” Springdale coach Franklin Jennings said. “We kept our composure and kept our heads up the entire match, and did what we needed to do to compete in this match until the last second.”
After Fayetteville’s quick back-to-back goals made it 3-1, Springdale came right back to cut the deficit to 3-2 on an Amanda Martinez goal with 5:07 to play. But Fayetteville (12-4, 5-1) was able to wind down the clock and close out the victory in the final minutes.
“She’s a good little player, and she ran through and suddenly it’s 3-2 with five mintues (left),” Thoma said. “But like I told the girls, if we could have scored in the first 10 minutes, we could have pressed it. But we didn’t really have that sense of going to goal, and once we found that we made it tough on them.
“I knew it would be tough, though. Springdale is so improved and it’s Springdale-Fayetteville.”
FAYETTEVILLE 3, SPRINGDALE HIGH 2
Springdale^1^1^—^2
Fayetteville^1^2^—^3
First Half
Springdale — Jurgens, 10:17
Fayetteville — Ward, 2:00
Second Half
Fayetteville — Foster, 11:22
Fayetteville — Sykes, 5:44
Springdale — Martinez, 5:07