A chaotic four goal second half salvaged a weekend split for the Powell High School boys’ soccer team against Bridger Valley opposition, as the Panthers defeated Lyman 4-2 on Friday before falling to Mountain View 3-0 on Saturday.

POWELL 4, LYMAN 2

Returning home to cold and blustery conditions the Panthers (3-3 overall, 2-2 3A West) welcomed the Eagles (0-4 overall, 0-3 3A West) on Friday.

Lyman got the first opportunities to get on the board early, including one 12 minutes in.

Just over a minute later the Eagles converted another chance, as a through ball found its way to an attacker and was slotted home to make it 1-0.

Shortly after the Eagles added another, as the ball was handled outside the box by the Panther keeper and the visitors pounced — taking the free kick quickly and putting it in the back of the net to make it 2-0.

“It’s unfortunate that we went down 2-0 after what I thought was a good sequence of possession in the first 15-20 minutes,” coach David Gilliatt said. “We just stopped linking up and began to play more panicked and Lyman made us pay for our mistakes. Credit to them for capitalizing on our errors.”

The Panthers were unable to find many attacking opportunities, before the wind at their backs in the second half helped change the fortunes of the hosts.

Gianreye D’Alessandro got Powell on the board eight minutes in, and the Panthers started finding momentum.

“I think all the guys knew what we needed to fix defensively and we recognized that Lyman was playing a very high line against us as well. They weren’t really adjusting, but we weren’t really testing them enough with balls over or through their back line,” Gilliatt said.

Hudson Miller won a penalty for the Panthers with 21 minutes left, and D’Alessandro stepped up and fired it home to make it a tie game 2-2.

The Eagles nearly played spoiler three minutes later, hitting the crossbar as the game remained tied 2-2.

Miller appeared to have the winner with 11 minutes left, but was called offside as the Panthers continued to push.

Knox Johnson found the winning goal for Powell, skipping one over the outstretched hand of the Eagle keeper to make it 3-2 with 3:36 remaining.

D’Alessandro put the finishing touches on the win just over a minute later, winning a penalty and firing it home to complete his second half hat-trick for the 4-2 win.

“The goal in the second half was to counterattack more effectively and attack their box. Their tackles were a little reckless at times so we knew getting in behind their back line would likely lead to free kicks or penalties. The guys did a good job of getting the ball in to those areas in the second half,” Gilliatt said.

That win could be key in the Panther’s goal of reaching the state tournament, as wins over Lyman and Pinedale place the Panthers squarely in fourth as they reach the midway point of the season.

“We really just need to secure fourth place in the west to qualify for state. While we’d love to go in with a better seeding than fourth place, and face the first team from the east in our first game, qualifying for state is our first goal,” Gilliatt said. “Getting wins against any conference opponent is vital to reaching that state tournament qualification. Any additional points we can grab along the way will help us place a little higher in the tournament standings.”

MOUNTAIN VIEW 3, POWELL 0

Heading into Saturday the Panthers took on the Buffalos (3-1 overall, 2-1 3A West).

Mountain View had the best chance early on, as the visitors put a shot wide on an open net 17 minutes in as it remained 0-0.

It didn’t take long for the Buffalos to get another chance, as they put home a corner 21 minutes in to make it 1-0.

“They definitely seemed bigger and more mature but they also just came with a bigger mentality,” Gilliatt said. “They won the majority of the 50/50 balls by a large margin and that shouts better mentality to me. We came on ready to compete at times, but overall we were inconsistent and it cost us the game.”

Powell started applying pressure late in the first half and it appeared to pay off as Ethan Frame found the back of the net, but he was deemed offside and the game remained 1-0 heading into the half.

The Buffalos again applied pressure early in the second half, as they hit the crossbar just under three minutes in, before the early pressure paid off with another goal four minutes in to make it 2-0.

Mountain View capped off the win with a third goal 18 minutes in, as the Panthers were unable to find the back of the net and were shut out for the second time this season 3-0.

“They created more quality chances than we did and it would have likely been a bigger margin of victory if not for a few goal line saves from our defenders,” Gilliatt said. “We need to do a better job of not committing defensively and capitalizing on the chances we have in the final third. Really the same errors we committed against Lander, but just an overall worse result given we didn’t score any goals.”

CODY TUESDAY

The Panthers head to Cody on Tuesday for another conference matchup close to home, taking on the Broncs (5-0-1 overall, 4-0 3A West).

That match will still take place at 5 p.m. but will be the first matchup of the day as the Panther girls’ game was moved to follow the boys at 7 p.m. under the lights instead of a 3 p.m kickoff.

“I think we need to do a better job of defending and man-marking, especially in the box on set pieces,” Gilliatt said. “We also need to drop our back line a little earlier to give cover in the event the first defender misses the long ball in the air. This happened many times on Saturday against Mountain View but we were too flat to cover for each other effectively.”