Sallisaw sweeps Van Buren in season openers
DAVID SEELEY SPORTS EDITOR
It was a successful start to the 2025 seasons for the Sallisaw High School soccer teams in Monday night’s seasonopening matches against Van Buren, Ark., at Perry F. Lattimore Stadium.
The Lady Diamonds got the evening started with a 2-0 victory over the Lady Pointers, then the Black Diamonds had to hold off a second-half rally by the Pointers to win 3-2.
In the girls’ match, AvaLynn Donaldson scored the first goal of the regular season for the Lady Diamonds (1-0) in the opening half, then Makenna Bor-mann scored her first-ever high school soccer goal in the second half with an assist from Emilie Robbins.
In the boys’ match, Wes Rodrigues had a hat trick in the opening half for the Black Diamonds (1-0), scoring three goals — with two of the assists coming from Phillip Hennessee and the third coming from Rustyn Romero.
The Pointers made a game of it in the second half, scoring twice. However, the Black Diamonds were able to maintain the lead and win on opening night.
The Sallisaw teams will be in the Gentry (Ark.) Tournament, which will take place Thursday through Saturday, before traveling to meet the Grove squads on Tuesday, with the girls’ match at 5:30 p.m. and the boys’ contest at 7:30 p.m.
