Cold weather, wind and the No. 1 team in the state greeted the Panther girls’ soccer team on Tuesday as it traveled to Cody. Facing the Fillies for the first time this season, the Powell High School girls came home with a 7-0 loss.

Early on in the contest, the Powell (2-3 overall, 1-1 3A West) defense stood tall. The Panthers kept Cody (3-0 overall, 2-0 3A West) at bay as they pressed into the wind seeking an early goal.

Cody scored its first goal 11 minutes in, after a long free kick from 40 yards was tapped down to an attacker and found its way into the back of the net.

The Fillies did not have to wait long for a second opportunity, as they scored just three minutes later to quickly make it 2-0.

Injuries and sickness left the Panthers without sophomore forward Kenzie Fields and sophomore fullback Emma Johnson. The team struggled to find many passes in the attacking half despite having the wind at their backs.

Cody again found the back of the net just minutes later, as they led 3-0 with 21 minutes left in the half.

Powell then settled in, finding some ways to attack down the wing and get the ball forward, but the team was unable to challenge the Cody goalkeeper.

The Fillies were able to reach the back of the net one last time before the half, after a cross turned shot found the top corner and gave Cody a 4-0 lead.

“I feel like our girls were prepared, but we do not always play our best against Cody and I think that was evident tonight,” Panther head coach Kaitlin Loeffen said after the contest.

In the second half Cody got on the board a lot faster, as they scored just four minutes in to make it 5-0.

The Panthers found some attacking opportunities of their own, taking advantage of Cody substitutions in the second half. Despite the increased attacking options, Loeffen feels her team needs to be more selfish when around the net.

“It is almost deja vu from last year,” Loeffen said. “We are asking girls to be selfish: If they are open, they need to take shots, or we are going to lose really close matches because we cannot expect our defense and goalkeeper to always keep teams shut down.”

The Panthers prevented Cody from scoring again until the final nine minutes, when they gave up two goals to make the final score 7-0.

ROAD TRIP

The Panthers will now hit the road, traveling to Lyman and Mountain View for two key conference matchups on Friday and Saturday.

First will be Mountain View (1-1 overall, 1-1 3A West) on Friday at 3 p.m. Loeffen is hoping her team will take advantage of their speed up the wings to get past the Mountain View defense.

The Panthers will then take on Lyman (1-3 overall, 0-1 3A West). The coach hopes her team will take more shots as they try and come home with a pair of victories in a push for the state tournament.