By Josh Hall
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The Harrison girls soccer team has developed a winning tradition.
The Golden Goblins have won state championship in 2016, 2014, 2011, 2004 and 2002. Harrison talks about those accomplishments prior to each season. The Golden Goblins always have winning another title on their mind.
The drive to be the best paid off for Harrison once again as the Golden Goblins won their sixth state championship in program history and defending their title from 2016 by claiming a 3-0 win against Maumelle in the Arkansas Class 5A finals at Razorback Stadium.
“Part of it is tradition,” Harrison coach Chris Pratt said. “Once you start winning, you have a winning attitude. That’s tough to change.”
For as much success the Golden Goblins have experience this season, Harrison didn’t exactly get off to a good start.
The Golden Goblins went 1-6 during an 18-day stretch in March. But that was by design.
“We play a tough, tough schedule to prepare for making runs in the state tournament,” Pratt said. “We’re not worried about having a season where we don’t have any losses. We’re worried about getting prepared for a state title. Big picture, we’re trying to win state championships, not games throughout the season.”
Pratt’s players are well aware of the coach’s strategy.
“He’s a very good coach,” sophomore goalkeeper Makayla Campbell said. “He puts us with a good schedule, so when stuff like conference and state happen, we’re prepared for it.”
The process has worked for Harrison. The Golden Goblins won eight of their final nine games, which concluded with a state title.
“We had a rough time at the beginning of the season, but we’ve definitely grown together and played well together these last several games,” Brylie Park said. ‘Growing as a team has been the biggest deal. They definitely made us better. Like any good team does, we grew playing them.”
Kaleih Harris got the Golden Goblins on the board first with an unassisted goal just two minutes into regulation.
Claire Doshier gave Harrison a 2-0 lead with a goal, assisted by Parker, with 14 minutes to play in the first half. Parker followed with an unassisted goal with nine minutes to play in the first half, and the Golden Goblins didn’t look back from there.
“We played with a little more intensity and we played with the mindset ‘we don’t want to lose because it could be our last game,’” Pratt said. “This team handles pressure well, and I think that pressure is kind of what got us over the edge.”
Campbell, one of 12 sophomores on the team, tallied 13 saves on the day. Since getting the nod in goal since her freshman year, Campbell hopes to keep the winning tradition going at Harrison.
That will be something she will stress to the underclassmen this offseason.
“You know, just tell them that they have to want it and they have to work hard,” Campbell said. “To get back here, we just have to work as hard as we did this year.”
