Lady Panthers win 3-2 in OT

Posted 4/6/17

“The girls worked very hard for that win, from the beginning whistle, through overtime to the end, they worked hard and extremely well as a team,” said PHS head coach Jack Haire.

The win put the squad’s overall record at 2-3, with the Lady …

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Lady Panthers win 3-2 in OT

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Powell High School’s Lady Panther soccer team prevailed in overtime 3-2 against Riverton on Saturday.

“The girls worked very hard for that win, from the beginning whistle, through overtime to the end, they worked hard and extremely well as a team,” said PHS head coach Jack Haire.

The win put the squad’s overall record at 2-3, with the Lady Panthers’ three losses coming from the top three teams in the state.

Powell scored Saturday’s first goal and led 1-0 for about 10 minutes, before Riverton scored to tie the game at 1.

The score remained tied at 1 going into the halftime.

Riverton scored about four minutes into the second half to take a 2-1 advantage.

“Riverton was a tough team,” said Haire, but Powell’s girls came right back and scored about five minutes later to knot things back up.

“We were locked solid till the end of regulation,” Haire said.

In the overtime, Powell scored a goal to win 3-2.

“These girls played a 40-minute half, another 40-minute half and a 10-minute overtime,” said Haire. “[They] played 90 minutes of solid soccer.”

The coach said his squad went into the game knowing nothing about Riverton and carrying no preconceived notions.

“We just played solid soccer,” Haire said. “That is all we ask.”

The team is on the mend from having eight of the 28 players on the roster injured and because of that, the coaches gave the players an extra day of rest. Haire said he feels that extra day helped refresh the team a little bit.

“They showed up to the game with smiles and wonderful attitudes and the win was in the air almost,” he said.

The three goals were scored by Kayla Atkinson, Kayla Kolpitcke and Jaya Smith.

Michelle Wagner and Kolpitcke each had an assist.

Goalkeeper Gabby Hirsch was injured in an earlier game against Worland, so Sydney Olsen filled in as goalkeeper and had 15 saves.

Coach Haire said Olsen had a solid game and “was confident in her abilities, but she got put into a big role pretty quick and she had a wonderful game.”

Joey Haire had nine defensive saves.

This Friday, the Lady Panthers travel to Green River for a tournament and will play their first game against Rock Springs at 1:30 p.m.

Coach Haire said his concern for this weekend is keeping his players healthy

If the Lady Panthers win the first game against Rock Springs, their next game will be at 6 p.m., while a loss would have them play at 5:30 p.m. Saturday’s games will depend on the results from Friday. The tournament is a double elimination bracket.

“Looking at the bracket, we have very winnable games,” said coach Haire. “More than that, we’re most likely going to be playing one of the teams we will be playing at the play-in game [for state].”

The northwest quadrant is comprised of Cody, Worland and Powell. Cody is the No. 1 ranked team in the state and Worland is ranked No. 3. So in order to make the state soccer tournament, Powell may have to win a play-in game.

“We’re going to learn this weekend,” said coach Haire. “We are going to learn and watch and grow. We have a goal in mind and that’s to make state — and in order to do that right now we need to play a play-in game.”

Coach Haire said he would love for the team to walk away 3-0 this weekend and believes it is a realistic goal.

“I still believe if this team plays solid soccer, just fundamental soccer, they are a competing team,” said coach Haire. “It’s showing.”

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