BENTONVILLE -- Raul Umana accounted for Springdale Har-Ber's offense, and the Wildcats snapped Bentonville's 26-match win streak Friday with a 2-0 victory in 7A-West Conference boys soccer action at the Tiger Athletic Complex.
Umana scored a goal in each half, both coming at times when Bentonville's defense was momentarily out of place. Har-Ber (4-3, 3-2) already had three shots that had been deflected when the ball came back to the junior forward, who punched it in past a Tigers defender with 30 minutes, 53 seconds left in the first half.
"It was a great match for the boys," Har-Ber coach Cory Butler said. "Our boys came fired up because of losing to them in the (Class 7A) state final, and realistically, we played with all heart.
"Luckily, we got in a few times and were able to capitalize on the ones that we had the best chances at scoring. Unfortunately for Bentonville, they didn't capitalize on the chances they had."
Bentonville (8-1, 5-1), which suffered its first loss since the 2013 Class 7A state tournament semifinals, kept Har-Ber goalkeeper Fredy Mendez busy around the goal throughout the match. Corey Jones and Jose Castro each had scoring chances with headers off corner kicks during a 2-minute span in the first half, only for Mendez to come up with the clutch save both times.
The Tigers continued to fire shots and had a goal by Tyler Roberts waived off when a referee called him offsides with 32:11 left in the first half. Bentonville's last chance at a score went for naught when Josh Howard's kick from about 25 yards out hit the crossbar and bounced out of play.
"It was bound to come at an end at some point," Bentonville coach Mike Devaney said. "Give credit to Har-Ber because they played awfully well. They took their chances, and their goalkeeper played very well.
"Last week against Fort Smith Northside, everything we hit in the first half went into the goal. I think if we kept playing for another 2 hours, we might not have scored a goal. We created a whole lot of chances, and the goalkeeper kept up with a couple of saves."
Umana's other goal came as Har-Ber caught Bentonville's defense off guard again. He was on the right side of the goal when he received the ball and pushed it into the net with 35:08 remaining.
Henry Apple can be reached by email at happle@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAHenry.
Sports on 04/11/2015