With a dominant start to the season, the Powell Panther girls’ soccer team earned a 9-0 conference victory in Pinedale on Saturday, powered by an Ivy Agee hat-trick as six different Panthers scored in the opener.

POWELL 9, PINEDALE 0

Starting out on the road the Panthers (1-0 overall, 1-0 3A West) jumped right into conference action against the Wranglers (0-2 overall, 0-2 3A West).

It didn’t take long for the Panthers to get on the board against the Wranglers, as Agee picked up where she left off last season and scored on a left-footed effort to make it 1-0 just over seven minutes into the game.

Despite dominating possession it took the Panthers 12 more minutes before they found another goal, as Emery Hernandez tallied her first goal of her high school career to make it 2-0.

“We were able to work off preseason jitters and settle into some decent team play going forward to create opportunities,” coach Danny Agee said.

Melanie Garcia joined the score sheet with 19 minutes left in the half, scoring on a bouncing ball in the box to make it 3-0.

Agee added to her total with 10 minutes left in the half, scoring again with her left foot at the edge of the box to make it 4-0.

Ava Gilliatt recorded her first goal of her high school career, scoring on a finish to the far post with 5:37 left in the half to cap off the first half scoring as Powell led 5-0 at the break.

Emily Orr picked things up right where they left off in the first half, finishing a corner kick to extend the lead to 6-0 in four minutes.

Agee completed her hat trick midway through the second half, scoring from 27 yards out to make it 7-0.

Hernandez followed with her second of the game, weaving her way through the Wrangler defense and finishing to make it 8-0 with 15 minutes left.

Coy Erickson joined in on the fun, capping off the dominant performance with a goal from 30 yards out to make the final score 9-0 with 11 minutes remaining.

“This was a very good game for the ladies as we were able to move players around and give everyone opportunities to play,” coach Agee said. “The best part was that we had six different goalscorers, and four goals came from players that are new to the program.”

Along with the nine goals to kick off the season, the Panthers maintained possession throughout the game while holding the Wranglers off the scoreboard to earn a clean sheet, a feat the team only achieved twice last season.

“We were very pleased with the ladies’ ability to circulate the ball and maintain possession, and although we still have a lot of work to do there were major strides made in our team’s defensive play,” coach Agee said. “It was a great game to start the season with and now we do our best to improve upon it each game. We are very proud of the ladies.”

PINNACLE CUP

Powell now heads back out on the road this weekend, heading to Worland to take part in the Pinnacle Cup on Friday and Saturday.

“We are going to continue to work on refining what we have already started and aside from that, positioning is going to be a large focus,” coach Agee said. “Every time the ball is touched by ourselves or our opponent every player on our team will have a job to do —  learning when and where that is at different moments is key for us. It is tough to do but every player has to trust their teammates to do their job if we hope to be successful.”

The girls will kick off with a game against Torrington (0-0) at 11:30 a.m., who did not play the first  weekend of the year.

Powell will then play at 4 p.m. against either Douglas (0-0), Worland (0-2) or Pinedale, dependent on the results from the first round of games.

The Panthers will then play at least one contest on Saturday based on Friday’s results.