Van Buren soccer falls to Russellville in rematch of 2021 Arkansas 5A state championship
BENTON - Russellville defeated Van Buren 4-0 in the Arkansas boys soccer 5A state championship game Saturday, with the aspect of revenge making this team different for Cyclones coach Jared Fuller.
“Well, the fact that that same team took it out from under us last year, that makes it special,” Fuller said. “Just the way these guys as seniors got their sophomore season taken away from them because of COVID-19 and the way they came back from that and worked every day to get better, that’s what makes it special is seeing them grow as young men and as soccer players.”
Responding to last year’s 2-1 finals loss, Russellville (21-1-1) scored three goals in the first 10:01 en route to the program’s sixth title, all coming since 2012.
With the wind in its favor, state tournament MVP Arius Garcia scored from 29 yards out with 35:13 remaining in the first period, while fellow sophomore KyJuan Martinez scored with 32:22 on a 35-yard kick that bounced by the Van Buren goalkeeper. With 30:01, Fernando Castro scored on a deflected header off teammate Camden Wilson to make it 3-0.
“We knew that the keeper was one of the players that graduated last year, so they had a young kid in goal and with the wind and the keeper, I said ‘Guys, let’s just shoot from anywhere, let’s test him early' and luckily it just came off our feet really well …”
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Russellville won the first meeting 2-1 on April 8 and the two teams tied 3-3 in the May 6 regular season finale.
In Saturday’s match, Van Buren was shut out for the first time this season and allowed four goals for the first time during the campaign, although Pointers coach Nathan Almond didn’t notice a difference in the Cyclones’ game plan compared to those previous 2022 encounters.
“We just didn’t start the game ready to play,” Almond said. “We gave up easy goals early and Russellville is too good of a team to spot them a couple of goals like that. They defend too well. There’s just too much pressure to try to put yourself behind and we did that.”
Van Buren reached back-to-back title games for the first time and has won championships in 2006 and 2021.
Senior Pedro Rodriguez finished his senior season with a school single-season record of 42 goals.
You can follow Bryant Roche on Twitter @BRocheSports and you can email him at BRoche@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Van Buren soccer loses to Russellville in boys soccer 5A final rematch
