Panther boys win 4-2 and Panther girls tie on the road Friday

It wasn’t a sweep for Panther soccer Friday on the road at Pinedale, but it was close, as the boys took a 4-2 win over the host Wranglers and the girls were able to eke out a 0-0 tie.

For the Powell girls, it was a strong defensive effort after taking 8-0 and 5-0 losses to Jackson Hole and Star Valley, respectively, the previous week.

The offense couldn’t quite get on track, however, and the scoreless tie would be the result.

In the boys match, the Panthers drew first blood when T.J. Abraham took a Trey Ouellette pass and sent it past the Pinedale keeper just 10 minutes in for a 1-0 lead.

The Wranglers would even things up 18 minutes later, but Brian Crawford put Powell back in front with a score in the 37th minute, off an Owen Dent assist, for a 2-1 lead that would hold until halftime.

The lead would grow to 3-1 on a Ouellette score just five minutes into the second half, with Dent getting another assist.

And while Pinedale would close the gap once more in the 58th minute, it didn’t take long for the Panthers to put it away with freshman Jeremy Herd scoring two minutes later, unassisted, to provide for the final margin.

“The boys really improved on possessing and being patient in their attack,” head coach Travis Rapp said. “Our defense played really well and held them to just seven shots on goal for the game. It would have been nice to get the shutout to reward the defensive performance, but it felt good to get the win.”

The lone game of last week for each team will move to two matches this week as Powell will play at Cody Thursday before hosting Worland Friday.

Each day will see the girls on the pitch at 4 p.m. with the boys’ matches scheduled for 6 p.m.