The Pioneers play defense against the Prairie Grove Tigers.

The Gentry Pioneers played against Rogers Mounties this past Monday, March 14. The Pioneers had senior James Fell at goalie this game for the first half and the Pioneers did not have sophomore defender William Barrios and junior left wing Clay Willis for this game. As in previous games, the Pioneers struggled with communicating on the field.

There was a lot of confusions on the field because of the new formation, but the confusions were gone after the first half. The Mounties first shot on target was blocked by Fell; after he blocked the ball, it rolled right behind him and it was a goal for the Mounties. Throughout the first half, the Pioneers been playing great until the Mounties had another shot that bounced off of Fell’s hands and later was kicked in by a Mountie. Fifteen minutes into the first quarter, the Pioneers were down 2-0. There was another shot taken by a Mountie that Fell caught but couldn’t hang on to it and the ball slipped, bounced off the pole and went it. Another goal was made by the Mounties a few minutes after the third goal heading into halftime, and the Pioneers were down 4-0.

The Pioneers switched goalies going into the second half because Fell’s shoulder was hurting, so that put junior Braxton Gunneman back to goalie for the rest of the game.The Pioneers played great and was about to get a free kick from senior center mid Jared Rabb. The kick went  in, but the free kick was indirect, which means someone else had to touched ball before going in. A direct free kick means that the free kicker can shoot and make it without anyone touching the ball. The score was still 4-0 until one of the Mounties had a beautiful side shot that hit the back pole and went in. The Pioneers lost the game 5-0.

“I feel like we played a little better than last game. We were just getting used to the formation for conference and had minor errors. All we need to do is fix the simple mistakes before conference comes and we should be good,” said senior defensive fullback Austin Fowler.

The next day (Tuesday, March 15) the Pioneers had another non-conference game against the Prairie Grove Tigers. Simple mistakes in the first two minutes of the game led the Tigers to scoring a goal. The Pioneers again didn’t have their full squad and was missing freshman defender Nick Linch, freshman forward Jason Gomez and Barrios for this game. Most of the Pioneers had to play the whole game. Gunneman was the goalie this game for the Pioneers .After the goal the Tigers made, the Pioneers played the best since their first game. Sophomore forward Kevin Ochoa had some opportunities to score but couldn’t connect with the goal. The Pioneers played great, stopping a lot of goals from being scored and actually getting some shots off.  The Pioneers were down 1-0 after the first half.

Heading into halftime the Pioneers switched Gunneman at goalie and put Rabb as goalie. Rabb only had little experience at goalie and hasn’t practiced goalie all season. The Pioneer defense couldn’t keep up with the Tigers, which led the Tigers scoring 4 more goals throughout the first 20 minutes of the second half. Gunneman was out on the field playing forward for a while and then the Pioneers switched goalies again putting Gunneman back at goalie and Rabb in at center mid. Ochoa and Rabb had some good-looking shots, but the shots couldn’t get past the Tiger goalie in the second half. The Pioneers stayed in it until the final buzzer and lost 5-0.

“We played a lot better than we had been. Yeah they scored on us four times in the second half, but we clean those minor mistakes we would had won. We will see the Tigers again in during conference. We will be ready for them,” said Fell after the loss.

The Pioneers are 1-4 heading into conference. If the Pioneers clean up their mistakes, they will be a contender in conference and maybe even make it to state this year. Their first conference game is Thursday, March 17 against the Dardanelle Sand Lizards.

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