Late Pinedale goal denies Panthers

A late free-kick goal made the difference as No. 4 Pinedale edged Powell by a 2-1 count in Saturday girls’ soccer action. The Panthers also fell by a 3-0 count to Buffalo on Friday in their first game of the season.

Alyssa Hildebrand got Powell off to a solid start in Saturday’s contest against the Wranglers. Jourdyn Haire unleashed a shot on goal for the Panthers, but saw Pinedale’s keeper make a play on the ball. Hildebrand was the beneficiary as she crashed the net and found herself in the right position to send the deflection back into net for Powell’s first score of the season.

Hildebrand’s score was the only tally of the first half as Powell carried a 1-0 lead into intermission.

The Wranglers received a gift in the second half as Powell was guilty of an own-goal that knotted the scoreboard at 1-1. Pinedale received a free kick from just above the 18-yard box with eight minutes to play and was able to bend the kick, taken from just left of center, past the Panthers’ defensive wall and just inside the left post, giving Panther goalie Sierra Baker no shot at making the save.

The Panthers were unable to threaten the Wranglers’ net in the waning minutes.

“We did not play to our potential against Pinedale,” said Powell soccer coach Brett Hanlin. “We were the better team, but we let them hang around with a close score and lackadaisical play.”

Hanlin acknowledged fatigue may have played a role in the contest for Powell.

“We have few subs on the varsity team, and it was a hard game against Buffalo the previous day,” he said.

In that Friday game, the Panthers played traditional powerhouse Buffalo on nearly-level terms through the first half. The Panthers had a strong scoring look 10 minutes into the contest as Taylor Swenson ran onto a pass stride-for-stride with her Buffalo defender before stumbling as she attempted to shoot on goal from 13 yards out, gettling little power on the effort.

Buffalo responded 22 minutes into the first half with the first goal of the game, a lobbed shot or crossing pass played across the mouth of the goal that settled into net.

Buffalo added a goal midway through the second half before adding a final tally late in the contest after a diving play to Baker wasn’t quite able to re-route the ball over the crossbar.

“Buffalo had a couple games under their belts and we didn’t,” said Hanlin, whose team was forced to withdraw from its scheduled season-opening jamboree appearance in Cody the previous weekend when only seven players were available that Saturday. “That played a big role. They were a little more aggressive, a little more sure of what they were doing than we were.”

Nevertheless, the Panthers’ coach noted it was a close result for his team against a traditionally strong Buffalo side.

“In the past, this has been a 9-0 game, a 7-0 game, something like that,” Hanlin said. “To play them as close as we did was still very positive for us.”

The road gets no easier for Powell this week. The Panther girls head to Worland for a 3 p.m. game Thursday. The team returns home on Saturday for an 11 a.m. contest against Cody.

Both opponents are part of the 3A Northwest quadrant. The top team between Powell, Cody and Worland at season’s end earns an automatic place on the 3A state bracket. The second and third place teams in the quadrant will be forced to play their way into the state tournament field at a qualifying event at season’s end.