Last year, the Permian boys soccer team finished second in the district but couldn’t get past the first round.
The Panthers will be hoping for different results in the postseason in 2024 as head coach Luis Carmona and his players get ready for a new season.
Permian comes into the new season after losing seven seniors from last year but still return a good chunk of experience.
“There’s a lot of excitement at the start of the year,” Carmona said. “We have a lot of new faces for this year. But we also have 14 players returning. Hopefully, that experience pays off. If we put everything together and all the pieces together, I think we can have a successful season. We have what it takes. We have a lot of kids returning. With all the experience returning, that’s a plus.”
The Panthers are coming off a 14-8-1 overall showing from last year which saw them going 5-4 in District 2-6A play.
Midland High won the district title in a race that wasn’t even close with a 9-1 record.
However, the Panthers were tripped up in the bi-district round of the playoffs with a 2-0 loss to El Paso Pebble Hills.
Carmona expects another tough test in District 2-6A.
“District is difficult,” Carmona said. “It can be anybody’s race. It’ll be difficult from top to bottom. Everyone in this district is talented. You can’t take anyone for granted. Anyone can beat anyone. As long as you get hot at the right time, that’s the key.”
Right now, the Panthers are moving players around and trying to figure things out.
“We have room to grow and we’ll keep on working these players,” Carmona said.
Carmona talked more about his back line for this season.
“The two center backs and our goalkeeper will have to step up,” Carmona said. “We have a couple of sophomores who are battling for the starting position. Our bread and butter is our midfield. Then we have some younger, underclassmen that have moved up for us. We just have to take it one game at a time.”
The Panthers will play their first game against Del Rio on Jan. 2 at Ratliff Stadium.
Their first district game will come on Feb. 2 against crosstown rivals Odessa High at Ratliff Stadium.
Permian began practice before the Christmas break, like every other team.
Carmona talked about the difficulties in trying to deal with a break in the practice schedule before getting the season started.
“It’s always tough,” Carmona said. “Right now, I think our players are focusing on the break because they want one but overall, we’ve been blessed with the kids that we have. Overall, they’re very dedicated to the sport. They don’t complain at all. We’re focusing on our season. It’s exciting. We have a lot of experience but we also have some holes to plug in and we’ll find out a lot about his team in the coming weeks.”
