The Panther soccer team is preparing for a Friday play-in game after ending the regular season with a couple of home losses last weekend.

On Friday, the Star Valley Braves beat Powell High School 4-0 and on Saturday, the Pinedale Wranglers came away with a 2-1 win in overtime.

Star Valley 4, Powell 0

“We played them a lot better, it was a really good looking game for the most part,” said PHS head coach Jeff Dent. “Once again, we are just not finishing and getting it into the net.”

Earlier this season, Powell had dropped a 7-0 decision to Star Valley, improving by three goals last weekend.

“We had six to eight shots from a wide variety of the guys and we just couldn’t get it their net — and a lot of it was their goalie was right there,” said coach Dent. “We shot from different angles, different distances and he was right there. They have an excellent goalie I’ll tell you that. “

Star Valley has an overall record of 8-3-1 and in those 12 games, the team has only allowed seven goals. On Saturday, Star Valley also shut out Cody, who is No. 1 in the northwest quadrant.

The Panthers held the Braves — who had the wind at their back — to a single goal in the first half.

“We were playing very well,” said coach Dent, adding, “They [Star Valley] were really pushing the boot and chase ball and they had the speed to do it. And I had set up my defense for speed, and they were holding them quite well, but they got through a couple times and they got that one in the goal, unfortunately.”

Down just 1-0 after a half of playing into the wind, PHS was “feeling pretty good,” coach Dent said.

After a halftime pep talk, “they came out in the second half a little stronger and just kept picking up speed,” he said. “And we played them quite well.”

The score remained 1-0 until about 15 minutes were remaining; that’s when Star Valley scored its second goal. About a minute a half later, the Braves scored again to go up 3-0.

“It was a surprise, and looking back at it, our guys had kind of gotten a little complacent, kind of settled down and those two scores went in,” said coach Dent adding, “the next thing you know, our boys picked it up again and played pretty doggone hard.”

Over the last five minutes, “both teams really stepped it up, playing very hard,” the coach said, “because I was impressed with how hard my guys were playing and pushing the ball forward and getting it to the wings and crossing it in, and just as fast Star Valley would get the ball back and work it up the field against us.”

Coach Dent was impressed by the way his squad passed the ball, worked it up to the forward position and attacked Star Valley in the final minutes.

Dylan Lowery had 10 saves in the game, but got injured in the last two minutes. That required Gabe Katz to sub in.

“Gabe stepped up very well to the position and played it very aggressively and played well also,” said coach Dent.

Friday’s game against Star Valley also marked the season debut of Shattuck Swenson, who had been injured to start the season.

“For his first game, I was impressed, but it wasn’t just that he played the whole time — he came in as a leader and was offering advice, telling guys to go somewhere for a pass, to move,” said coach Dent. “He was very much involved in the game.”

Swenson played the forward position and, in the words of his coach, “was making things happen.” He played about 70 of the 80 minutes.

Coach Dent said Swenson has talked with the team at practices and games all year — he was a manager in the early goings of the season — “but when he started playing, I think he felt a little more ownership in the game and he just stepped up and was a true leader Friday night.”

In the first half, Powell had 2-3 corner kicks but playing into a head wind made it tough to score.

In the second half, Powell had three corner kicks said the kicks were “good opportunities, just couldn’t quite get them into the goal,” coach Dent said.

On Saturday, Powell was edged by Pinedale, 2-1, in overtime.

With the regular season now concluded, the team and coaches will be working “to polish their skills and make our team a little more efficient with each other — let the boys work passes and stuff with each other and they’ll come to conclusion getting them into the net,” coach Dent said. “And that’s what I see as needing to happen with the team, I don’t see any major problems.”

This Friday starts the postseason with a play-in game for the Panthers. They’ll play Douglas at 3 p.m. Friday in Worland.

Douglas enters the game as the No. 2 team in the Northeast quadrant, with a 4-10-1 record, with Powell the No. 3 squad in the Northwest quadrant, with a 3-9 record.

“They seem hungry, they want to play good soccer and want to do good on the field and they are,” coach Dent said of his team. “We just need that W to show up.”