Pink Panthers continue domination

Pink Panthers continue domination

Sept. 25, 2001

STAFF REPORT

The Pink Panthers U-16 girls team went undefeated this past weekend in Western Slope Soccer League action. Their record at mid-season is 4-0-1which puts the team in first place.

The Panthers defeated Montrose 6-2 in that town. Maddy Stephens opened the scoring by tapping in a crossing ball from Katie Meyer at the 5 minute mark. Montrose came right back with two goals of its own in the seventh and 10th minutes.

"This may have been a big turning point for this team on the season," Panther head coach Marc Meyer said. "In the past, when a team had taken the lead they sometimes hung there heads and played down to there level. This time you could see the level of play of the Panthers pick up dramatically as they told each other verbally to push the pace of the game."

In the 15th minute Stephens scored again, tying the score. In the 20th minute, Amy Johnson came out of her sweeper back position to score on a corner kick from Stephens. In the 30th minute, on another corner kick Katie Meyer headed the ball only to have it blocked by the goalie. The ball bounced off high and Amanda Graffis headed it into the net. Ending the scoring in the half at 5-2 Panthers was Darshina Benally with a hard left footed driving shot that went between the goalies legs.

The second half was dominated by the Panthers on the field though the only scoring was a driving shot up the middle by Liz Powell. The Montrose team is the only team to have beaten the Panthers in WSSL play giving them a 1-0 loss last spring.

On Sunday, Sept. 23, the Pink Panthers played in Eagle against the U-16 Cyclones. On the opening kick off by the Cyclones, the Panthers charged had with both Graffis and Meyer touching the ball from Cyclone attackers with Sara Cullington taking possession at the top of the penalty box and beating theCyclone defenders for a goal in the first 15 seconds of play. Eagle was never in the game after that as Graffis scored in the 10th minute, Powell in the 15th, and Graffis again in the 20th. In the 30th and 35th minute Piedra Lightfoot scored on two well placed striking goals ending the scoring for the half at 6-0.

In the second half the Panthers mixed it up with the defenders moving up for offensive duties and the attackers moving back for defensive duties, according to coach Meyer. Cullington scored in the 50th minutes on a drive from the center mid-field position beating the Cyclone goalie high into the net. in the 70th minute. Kerrie Kemp took a nice weak sided crossing ball from the on the left side of the field from Katie on moving to the right side coming up from the defensive mid-field position beating the Cyclone goalie into the corner of the net. That ended the scoring at 8-0.

The Pink Panthers are off this weekend. The will be playing in the Grand Mesa Fire Classic Oct. 6-7 and will resume WSSL play Oct. 13 here in Cortez against the Grand Mesa Fire Gold and Sunday Oct. 14 in Montrose against Basalt.

Since entering the WSSL as a U-14 team in the fall of 2000, spring 2001 and now into the fall U-16 season the Pink Panthers are 19-1-3 in league play.

The Panthers opened their fall Western Slope Soccer League play with U-16 Grand Mesa Fire Gold in Grand Junction with that game ending in a 1-1 tie.

In a very closely contested game, Meyer scored the lone goal for the Panthers after a nice crossing ball from Graffis found her feet in the middle of the field around the penalty strip, moving to her right with the Grand Junction sweeper on her side she buried a shot passed the goalie in the bottom corner of the net. Grand Junction’s lone score came on a miscue of assignments after a penalty on the Panthers. When the injured Gold player came off the field the panthers made a matching substitution and in the confusion leaving a Gold player wide open for a unmarked shot.

"Though the panthers had numerous opportunities to put the game away in the second half, including a open goal shot that hit the top crossbar, the game ended in a tie," Pink Panther coach Meyer said. "It was very hot in Grand Junction that day and the referee’s did stop the game at one point in the first have to cool the ladies off and allow for a water break, several of the Panthers as well as Gold players succumbed to the heat and spent the game on the sidelines finding solace under several small shade trees. Back-up goalie Emelia Allee-Jumbo played very well filling in for Randa Olson after she left the game ill earlier in the first half of play,"

The Panthers’ next opponent in Cortez was the U-16 Eagle Cyclones. Cortez dominated the field leading to a 5-0 lead at the half. Darshina Benally opened scoring at about the 5th minute with a nice hard shot to the opposite corner from the just outside the penalty box. Next up in the 10th minute was Karlyn Franchini scoring a well placed goal from the backside on a crossing ball. Christine Brengel followed suit with another backside crossing goal moments later. In the 30th minute Sara Cullington place a nice one-on-one move on the right sided defender and tapped a ball gently into the left corner of the net. Stephens closed out the first half scoring with a breakaway goal right before the half ended. The second half play became quite sloppy as the panthers had several restrictions placed on them. Jessie Love-Nichols provided the lone score in the 70th minute chesting in a corner kick from Meyer for the final 6-0 total.

On Sept. 15, the Grand Mesa Fire Blue came into town after having beaten Montrose the week prior 4-3 and Basalt in the opener 3-1. Though the Panther players where not having their best outing of the earlier season, they did win the contest 3-0.

Stephens opened the scoring in the 10th minute with a well-placed left footed goal low into the right corner of the net from the center of the field. In the 30th minute Cullington forced a hard left footed goal past Grand Junction goalie into the back of the net from just outside the penalty area. That ended the half with the score 2-0 Panthers.

The lone goal of the second half came after Powell flicked the ball with her head to Brengel who scored a nice shot beating Grand Junction goalie low and to the corner.

"The team was not at its best, It probably was one of the smartest soccer games I have every seen this group of girls play in the years I have been coaching them. Our goalie, Olson was very active in her upgraded role as a keeper/sweeper coming out numerous times to get ball outside the box as Grand Junction tried to boom the ball over our defense. In the 3-4-3 alignment, much like the University of North Carolina women use, our back line of Esther Harclerode, Amy Johnson and Savanah Tanner are starting to adjust to the three back system. Midfielders Brin Andrews, Benally, Cullington, Kemp, Love Nichols, Allee-Jumbo and Lightfoot are starting to handle the four mid-field line and the increased pressures and amount of running it takes it puts on these ladies is great. And forwards Meyer, Graffis, Brengel and Stephens are adjusting to the more wide-open, unstructured three forward front that we are using this fall. The passing and movement was very good throughout this game. These ladies should provide some exciting soccer this fall," coach Meyer said.