Panther soccer took a break from its regular-season schedules to take part in a pair of tournaments over the weekend, with positive results for both the boys and girls teams.

While the Lady Panthers weren’t able to notch their first win of the season, the team did score its first goals of the year and made very close contests in three of their four matches at the Pinnacle Challengers Cup in Worland.

Taking on 4A Evanston in its tournament opener Friday, Powell dealt with the Devils throughout and got on the board via a Jaya Smith goal in a 2-1 loss.

The only contest that was decided by more than one goal was the Panther’s next match Friday, a 3-0 loss to Buffalo, ranked third in the state in 3A.

The team rebounded well Saturday and had its highest scoring game of the season thus far, getting goals from Kayla Atkinson and Kylie Cannon, though it wasn’t quite enough to tame the Tigers in a 3-2 loss.

The Lady Panthers then closed out their tournament run with a narrow, 1-0 loss to Dogies of Newcastle.

The Powell boys, meanwhile, headed to the southern part of the state for the Southwest Invitational in Green River and went 2-0-1 during Friday’s seeding matches.

The Panthers atoned for an early-season loss to Star Valley with a 1-0 win in their opener before settling for a 1-1 tie with the Outlaws of Rawlins.

Against the Braves, Powell got the only score it would need in the fourth minute of the match when T.J. Abraham scored off a through ball from Owen Dent.

From there, the defense, anchored by keeper Sean Wagner, held Star Valley scoreless for the win.

“It was Sean’s first shutout of the season,” head coach Travis Rapp said. “And it wasn’t a simple shutout either. Sean had 10 saves in the match.”

The Rawlins match saw Trey Ouelette open the scoring 22 minutes in, though the Panthers had plenty more chances.

“We probably should have had eight goals, but we didn’t,” Rapp said. “We got lax at the end and let them equalize the score with just over two minutes left. It was a good learning experience for our boys about discipline.”

The Panthers would then bounce back with a 1-0 win over Class 4A Evanston to put the team into Saturday’s top-level Gold Bracket.

“We needed the win to get into the Gold Bracket and they only needed a tie,” Rapp said. “So they stacked nine defenders plus the goalie back with just a boot and run forward up top.”

Facing this stacked defense, that lesson in discipline would pay off as the Panthers stayed patient.

“Time and time again we possessed and worked at a goal,” Rapp said. “And it finally paid off in the 40th minute when T.J. (Abraham) scored again.”

In this 50-minute game, the Devils got a little antsy with just 10 minutes left and needing the tie.

“Something clicked with our boys at that moment and we held possession of the ball for most of those last 10 minutes. Evanston never got a great chance and we held to the finish line.”

In the Gold Bracket Saturday, Powell would square off with two high-ranking 3A teams Lander (No. 4) and Buffalo (No. 5).

The Panthers would give the Tigers all they could handle, getting scores from Owen Dent in the first half and Marshall Wittick early in the second to keep things tight.

Lander would escape, however, with a 3-2 win and send Powell to the third-place game, of the Gold Bracket, against the Buffalo Bison.

And though Buffalo would come away with a 5-1 win, it was a closer game than the final score indicated.

“They scored two early when we came out a little flat,” Rapp said. “We came out strong in the second half and made it 2-1 in the 58th minute.”

A Kristian Stenlund corner kick found its mark and was redirected on a header from Abraham to halve the score.

“We had a couple more chances off of corners, a couple set pieces and a couple of crosses, but just kept coming up short,” Rapp said. “They scored three real quick around the 70th minute, and we started subbing in the young guys at that point.

“It was a really good weekend, with us placing fourth out of 14 teams,” Rapp continued. “The boys showed a lot of effort, maturity and class throughout the weekend and we picked up wins against a ranked team and a 4A team. We’ll look to pull that over to our big game against Worland this week.”

That big match will see Powell at the Warriors Thursday with the girls kicking off at 4 p.m. and the boys at 6 p.m.

The boys then will travel to Buffalo Friday, while the girls host the Lady Bison, with 6 p.m. start times.