Panther soccer team gears up for Worland tourney

Amid a 5-0 loss to Riverton on Saturday, the Powell High School boys soccer team learned what improvements need to be made for the future.

“[We’re] looking at Riverton as another stepping stone to learn from,” said PHS head coach Jeff Dent, adding that the team is still looking ahead to the championship.

Coach Dent said the team is working on some certain areas where the coaches and players noticed a need for improvement —  such as getting quicker touches and stronger kicks toward the goal.

“Riverton came on strong,” said Dent. “[I] was a bit surprised. I did not expect them to be as fast as they were, they were a bunt and chase team.”

Riverton played with six defenders in the back, which made penetrating the goal difficult. They also had really good “booters” — who could boot the ball to better than half-field — and then three very fast players who played up front, coach Dent said.

“It was a very difficult situation just to try and penetrate through their defense,” he said. The coach added that Powell possessed the ball 80-90 percent of the time, but just couldn’t quite penetrate the box and didn’t have good shots on the goal.

During the game, Brekyn Herd had three shots on goal and Brian Crawford had one — all from inside the 18-yard line.

Owen Dent had six shots, all from outside the 18-yard line, and five corner kicks. Jace Smith took two shots from just outside the 18-yard line.

John Stutzman had 10 saves on goal and played 10 minutes on the field to help enforce the defensive stand of the game.

“I’m very proud of the guys,” said coach Dent. “The things that we have been working on the last two weeks — with working in the middle and their passing and being together as a team — they did not vary from that at all.”

Dent said the Powell team did well at gaining control at their own end of the field from Riverton’s forwards, then bringing the ball all the way up to the Wolverine defense — almost to the top of Riverton’s penalty box. But the top of the penalty box is where Powell ran into the six defenders, which the Panthers’ couldn’t quite break through.

“But the athletes stayed with the philosophy that we’ve been teaching them, and I’m very proud of them with what they did,” said coach Dent.

He added that since the game, he’s reconsidered the lineup and feels that if Powell faces Riverton or that type of play again, the Panthers would respond better. The coach called it a stepping stone against a style of play that Powell had not faced before.

Next up for the Panthers is a Friday-Saturday tournament in Worland. The first game will be at 1 p.m. Friday against Evanston.