A strong start to the season has seen the Panther girls’ soccer team jump out to a 2-2 record. The Powell High School squad squared off with top competition at the Pinnacle Cup in Pinedale on Friday and Saturday, defeating Rawlins 1-0 but falling to No. 4 ranked Buffalo 1-0 and No. 3 ranked Worland 2-0.

In their first matchup, the Panthers were able to squeeze past Rawlins (1-4) by a 1-0 margin. The deciding goal from PHS junior midfielder Jordyn Dearcorn came just after halftime, on an assist from freshman Kenna Cannon.

“The ladies did a better job taking shots when open and finding through balls more consistently,” Panther head coach Kaitlin Loeffen said.

Heading into their semifinal matchup, the Panthers matched up with Buffalo (2-2) but were unable to find the back of the net despite their best efforts. The Bison took a 1-0 win.

“Our girls stepped up against Buffalo and played a solid game,” Loeffen said. “With shortened halves, I feel we could have connected with an additional 20 minutes.”

After the semifinal loss the Panthers matched up against familiar foe Worland (2-1) in the third place game.

The Panthers again were unable to find the back of the net in the matchup, falling 2-0 to the Warriors. However, Loeffen praised her defense for stepping it up in both of the team’s losses to keep the games competitive.

Loeffen was pleased to see Worland this early in the season, as they will square off with the Warriors again in just two weeks for conference. Powell will try to knock off either Worland or Mountain View in an attempt to return to the state tournament.

The Panthers will have little time to catch their breath as they will hit the road today (Tuesday) to face No. 1 ranked Cody (2-0) in their first conference matchup of the season for a 3 p.m. game.

The girls have shown improvement early in the season as they already have more wins than last season.

“It felt good to be competitive,” Loeffen said.

POWELL 1, RAWLINS 0

Goals — Jordyn Dearcorn 1

Assists — Kenna Cannon 1