FAYETTEVILLE -- Siloam Springs' young players came through as the Lady Panthers defended their Class 6A soccer state title.
Freshman Megan Hutto's pass found hustling sophomore Maycee Lance late in the first half and Lance scored in the lower right corner for the only goal as Siloam Springs defeated Searcy 1-0 at Razorback Field.
It's the second consecutive state championship for Siloam Springs, which defeated Mountain Home on penalty kicks to win the program's first title in 2014.
"It was a very emotional game," Siloam Springs Coach Chuck Jones said. "We knew it was going to be a battle from the get-go. Searcy is an excellent team. We talked to our girls that it didn't matter how long it took, we were going to get the job done today.
"I felt like the last three to four weeks our girls played with tremendous confidence. We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores out there. We have great senior leadership, and I'm just so proud of the girls."
The game was a rematch from the 2013 Class 6A title game, which Searcy won 3-1.
Lady Lions Coach Larry Stamps said Siloam Springs (14-4) has improved a lot since the last time Searcy faced the Lady Panthers.
"They possess the ball really well and they've got more speed than what they had last time," Stamps said. "Our girls kept coming up and saying, 'They're fast.' I said, 'I know.' "
Searcy (13-2-2) got an up-close look at that speed late in the first half when Hutto raced up the far sideline. She kept the ball to herself and crossed with her outside foot to Lance, who checked in to the play on a dead run.
"I had two defenders coming at me, but I just kept dribbling because I saw Mayce just a little ways back," Hutto said. "I tried to take a big enough touch so I could run on to it. I knew the goalkeeper was coming on me, so I just used my outside foot."
The pass was perfect, and Lance scored easily.
"I knew that Hutto could get it through literally every single defender, so I just had to book it down to the goal," Lance said. "I just paid attention to where the keeper was at and I just tried to place it in the corner."
The goal was Lance's 12th of the season and fourth in the state tournament. Hutto, the game's MVP, recorded her fifth assist of the season and added to a state tournament run that saw her score five goals.
"She [Hutto] was a workhorse for us today," Jones said. "She was always checking in, putting us in good situations. She's pretty special to be a freshman."
Stamps said Searcy put an emphasis on guarding the sideline because of Siloam Springs' speed, but it wasn't able to keep up on that goal.
"We were trying to defend the sideline, which you never do that," Stamps said. "You let them have that and defend that goal, but we didn't do that one time and it cost us.
"We just ran into a buzzsaw today. That's a good team out there. They made us look tired. I told the girls, keep your heads up. We'll be back next year."
Sports on 05/24/2015