Panthers miss valuable opportunity to climb in 3A West standingsPowell High School failed to connect Saturday on a pair of opportunities to improve its status in the 3A West conference soccer standings as Worland journeyed to town, capturing a 4-2 win in girls' action and avenging an earlier loss with a 3-0 boys' win. Powell's girls also fell 4-1 last week at Lander. The boys' game between the two schools was postponed due to poor weather and will take place today (Tuesday) at 5 p.m. at the college soccer field.

“I'm disappointed in the result, but I'm not upset at the effort we showed,” said Powell High School coach Brad Hammond following Saturday's two-goal loss. “We're still not finishing our opportunities very well.”

The Panthers had no shortage of opportunities on Saturday. After spending much of the game's first 15 minutes in Worland's half of the field, Powell had nothing to show for it when the Warriors unleashed a counterattack down the field to result in the game's first goal.

“I really felt we were controlling play the first 15 minutes or so. Then they get that first goal and we deflated a little,” said Hammond.

Powell had a chance to recover the goal after Worland was whistled for a penalty in the goal box, but the ensuing penalty kick was smothered by the Warriors' goalkeeper. Minutes later, Worland was converting a penalty kick of its own to make the score 2-0 at the half.

Powell got on the scoreboard early in the second half as junior Shelby McIntosh sent the Panthers' second penalty kick of the game into goal. Worland added two more goals, both coming off quick counterstrikes, before Leslie Thronburg capped the scoring with a goal in the closing minutes for Powell.

“I was proud of the effort we showed,” said Hammond. “We didn't get home (from Lander) until 11 the previous night. It was prom. There were things that could have distracted us, but we came out and played with our heads in the game, and I'm proud of that.

“In many ways, the Worland and Lander games were very similar. In both cases, there was a fast striker that scored three goals against us that we weren't able to beat down the field.”

Unlike much of Saturday's action that came in the second half, in Lander all the fireworks came in the first 40 minutes of action. The Panthers surrendered four first-half goals at Lander and only had a Shelby Willis strike to show as the teams went into halftime.

“We did a good job of adjusting and playing them even in the second half,” said Hammond. “We just didn't do a good job of getting back early and got beat a couple times.”

The weekend also left Powell High School boys' coach Pat D'Alessandro scratching his head. One week after threatening to throw the 3A West standings into chaos with a shutout victory in Worland, the Panthers found themselves on the receiving end of a 3-0 whitewash that will keep them pinned in fourth place overall.

“It was a complete opposite,” D'Alessandro said after Saturday's game. “The way they looked out there today, that was how we played in Worland. The way we played today —that was how they looked when we played them at their field.”

The Panthers spent large chunks of Saturday chasing Worland and attempting to clear the ball from the Warriors. Worland was able to sustain pressure on the Panthers' defensive half of the field, but it wasn't until late in the first half that the visiting team was able to finally connect on a goal.

The second half brought similar results as Worland added an early second goal before scoring again late off a point-blank rebound after the Panthers deflected the Warriors' initial shot attempt. The Panthers were able to generate some offensive threats in the second half, but failed to find the back of the net with any of their shots.

Senior Monte Nickles had a couple of Powell's strongest scoring opportunities, forcing the Worland keeper to make a diving smother of a shot midway through the second half. Nickles also shaved the right post with a shot attempt late in the contest.

In junior varsity action, the Powell girls tied Lander 2-2 and lost a 3-1 decision against Worland. A score for the Panther boys' JV contest was unavailable at press time.