As she stepped up to the black circle marking the penalty kick mark, senior Ellie Williams remains calm despite the fact that her team was losing 1-0. She set the ball and completed a perfect shot, right past the keeper. Williams made the goal that would take the Lady Wildcats in to penalty kicks resulting in their third conference win.
“Penalty kicks are just a mental thing,” said Williams. “It’s all about just making a solid pass past the keeper.”
For the first time in school history, the Lady Wildcats soccer team is 3-1 in conference play. After falling to the Bentonville Tigers in their first conference game, the team has pulled together to defeat the Heritage War Eagles, the Van Buren Pointers, and the Siloam Springs Panthers.
“We’re doing a lot better than any other year,” said Williams. “We’re coming together as a team and has gotten so close together off the field that it carries onto the field. We have a great team chemistry and have changed our style of play to possession.”
On April 9, the Lady Wildcats traveled to Van Buren to take on the Pointers. Senior Sara Lachance had the first goal of the game sparking the team to put away six more goals with an assuring final score of 7-0.
“We communicated and worked well together against Van Buren,” said junior Sam Weber. “I think we did well and that we’re really just getting better every game.”
On April 11, the Lady Wildcats were challenged by the Siloam Panthers but ended up coming out with a win in the end after a tense penalty kick shootout to break the tie. At the end of regulation time, the Wildcats and Panthers were tied 1-1 but the Lady Wildcats were able to put away their penalty kicks for the win.
Next Thursday, April 18, the Lady Wildcats will face the Lady Fayetteville Bulldogs in their fifth conference match.