Pink Panthers closing in on another WSSL title

Pink Panthers closing in on another WSSL title

May 17, 2001

STAFF REPORT

The U-14 Pink Panthers have two games left in the Spring WSSL(Western Slope Soccer League) and are closing in on their second straight championship.

"We play at Grand Junction Saturday (May 19) and at Montrose Sunday (May 20)," coach Marc Meyer said. "We are currently 4-0-1 or 5-0-1 if we get the Glenwood Springs forfeit. They did not show up here Sunday for a game they rescheduled earlier in the season. If we win both of the games we should come out the champions again, however, it will depend if they give us the forfeit points for Glenwood not showing up to play in Cortez. Right now Palisade’s (Thunder Mountain) only loss is to us."

The April 28 game at Eagle went well with the Panthers winning 8-1. Eagle was the WSSL B league champ last fall with an 8-1-1 record and was moved up to the A league this Spring.

Jessie Love-Nichols opened the scoring in the first five minutes on a crossing goal with a pretty assist from Karlyn Franchini. At the 10 minute mark, Katie Meyer scored a header goal on a crossing pass from Love-Nichols. With five minutes left in the half, Amanda Graffis scored on another crossing pass from Franchini. The half ended 3-0 Panthers.

"To the Eagles credit, they started the second half of play with an early goal in the 40th minute that went uncontested by the Panther defense and beat the diving Panther goalie Randa Olson. The Panthers had started the second half a little off and tired with four members of the team gone for the weekend on a Dolores School trip," Meyer commented.

"That goal seemed to spark our ladies into a string of five second-half goals," he reported.

Franchini scored two goals, Amanda Graffis added another, and Piedra Lightfoot and Darshina Benally finished the scoring. After there long second half goal the Cyclones where never in the game as the Panthers stepped up their level of play.

The Panthers’ next opponents where the Vail Crush played at a neutral field in Palisade on May 12. Vail is a new team to the league, playing on the Front Range last fall finishing third in CSYSA Challenge II League.

In the 10th minute, Maddy Stephens opened the scoring on a crossing pass from Franchini.

"We settled into a nice rhythm moving the ball well with many scoring chances," he added.

In the 20th minute, Lightfoot scored a goal off a rebound shot off the goalie. This closed out the scoring at 2-0 at the half. The second half again showed the Panthers starting off slow, allowing the Crush an early goal in the first three minutes of the half. It was the Panthers first game in the heat for the year with temperature in the 90's in Palisade. They responded well with Meyer scoring off a corner kick in the 50th minute from Stephens. Meyer scored again in the 55th minute with a long arching shot from well outside the box. That ended the scoring at 4-1.

"The Panther defense lead by Savanah Tanner, Love-Nichols, Amy Johnson and Esther Harclerode was very strong in the game with really only two errors in the match. Mia Allee-Jumbo, our versatile utility soccer player, filled in for our injured goalie Olson in this game making several nice saves. The heat and the absolutely awful field conditions was not without its price as Franchini left the game in the first half with a pulled hamstring and Meyer sprained an ankle in the 60th minute, and Liz Powell strained her back early in the second half. We truly appreciate the soccer fields that are provided to us here in Cortez by the city staff," coach Meyer said.

The Pink Panthers will stay busy throughout much of the summer. They play in the Sandia Cup in Albuquerque Memorial Day weekend, travel to Grand Junction June 9-10 for the Grand Mesa Invitational. Then are off to the University of North Carolina for a team camp July 1-5.