Soccer upheaval

Posted 4/27/10

On Friday, after an early scare, the Panthers played in control. A defensive miscue just two minutes into the game provided Worland with a point-blank shot on goal, but Powell keeper John Kissner made a kick-save to his left to avert the …

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Soccer upheaval

Posted

{gallery}04_27_10/boyssoccer{/gallery}Powell's Jason Rand flicks a header toward goal during the Panthers' 3-0 shutout of Worland last Friday. Rand scored one of Powell's three goals in the contest to help position the Panthers to a 3A West victory. Courtesy photo/Greg Wise Panther boys throw 3A West into chaos with shut-out victory The 3A West boys' soccer picture was jumbled on Friday, courtesy of the Powell Panthers. The Panthers delivered a 3-0 shutout victory at Worland — the same Warrior team that earlier this year defeated Cody and drew a contest against Jackson. “This really does throw things just up in the air,” said Panther head coach Pat D'Alessandro. “It kind of puts us in control of our own destiny now, because the rest of our conference games are at home. If we can go out and take care of business, we're in great position to challenge for first or second.”

On Friday, after an early scare, the Panthers played in control. A defensive miscue just two minutes into the game provided Worland with a point-blank shot on goal, but Powell keeper John Kissner made a kick-save to his left to avert the threat.

“John had a great game in goal, but that play really switched the nature of the game,” said D'Alessandro. “If Worland scores there and gets an early 1-0 lead, it puts a completely different complexion on the game. As it was, it prevented Worland from getting some early momentum and we were able to get on the board.”

Monte Nickles, starting as a forward for the first time this season, rewarded the coaching staff for its decision with a pair of goals. Jason Rand added the Panthers' final score off a nice feed from Andre Miasso.

“We had a feel going in to this game that it could be a turning point for us,” said D'Alessandro. “We learned at Jackson that our defense is strong enough that it gave us the option to throw Monte as a forward and try to create mismatches with his speed.

With that change, it moves Rand to center-midfielder with Drayson Bratt, and the two of them together are just tenacious on defense.

“Worland is a very disciplined team and they do a good job with their counter-attack, but there was one point in the game where they had the ball. We weren't able to steal it, but it took them what seemed like five minutes to actually clear it out of their side of the field. We did a really good job of pressuring them and really preventing them from getting organized.”

The Panthers played the game without Greg Randolph, who was still feeling the after-effects of a minor concussion suffered at Jackson last week. Randolph is expected to be back in the lineup this week when the Panther boys host Lander on Friday in advance of a Saturday rematch against Worland.

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