NL Girls Lose Heartbreaker to Pleasant Grove

Monday night’s soccer match between the North Lamar Pantherettes and Pleasant Grove Hawks was full of action, phenomenal play at goalie and card tricks by the referees. NL started the match with a fiery intensity that seemed to be missing in the previous week.

The Pantherettes attacked the Hawks defense with an unrelenting intensity launching multiple shots on goal early in the match. It didn’t take long for the offensive intensity to pay off as at the 12 minute mark Daisy Rangel (6) crossed the ball to Karlee Alexander (23) in mid-field just inside the goal box. Alexander laced a perfect shot into the goal just past the goalie’s reach to give NL a 1-0 advantage early on. At that point the match had the feel of one that would be dominated by the Pantherettes.

For the remainder of the half, both teams would have multiple scoring opportunities but phenomenal play by Shaina Brown (16) in goal and her PG counterpart would keep things close. In a physical game, the Hawks’ coach would receive a red card and be ejected from the game after vehemently arguing a foul call late in the half, leaving his team with no coach for the remainder of the match.

The ejection seemed to inspire the Hawks and their fans as they played with renewed intensity in the 2nd half. After tying the match, PG scored with about 11 minutes left to take a 2-1 advantage. To add to the drama, the refs pulled 3 more yellow cards during the half. Despite outshooting the Hawks 17-11, NL would not score and fell to the visiting Hawks 2-1.

In action earlier Monday night, the JV girls lost to PG 3-0.

Coach Duanna Ewell stated that this was a really tough loss. She added that the girls played hard but just didn’t finish. She noted that they will have to continue to work hard and strive to improve shot accuracy. The loss leaves the Pantherettes with a preseason record of 4-7-2. They will host Sunnyvale this Friday at 5:30.

Reprinted with permission from The Panther Press. Article by Adam Routon.