The Permian girls soccer team may have only graduated five players from last year but those departures leave a lot of shoes to be filed as the Lady Panthers look to make another playoff run this season.
Head coach Chad Peterson and his players are coming back from last year’s playoff run that ended with a loss to Southlake Carroll in the regional quarterfinal round.
“We graduated five or six which is not a whole lot but we graduated the wrong kids,” Peterson said. “It’s kind of tough to replace the five we lost. The team we have now is pretty talented. They’re healthy and they’re ready to begin playing against somebody other than their friends. We’re going to see what we have pretty quickly.”
The Lady Panthers went 11-10-3 overall last year which included a second place finish in the District 2-6A standings.
Permian’s season ended with a 2-0 loss to Southlake Carroll.
“We played our socks off and lost 2-0 but it was better than the previous time we played them,” Peterson said. “We showed up pretty well at the end of the year. it took us a while to get going but when they found it, they found it. I think this team will be the same way. They’re a little bit younger but they’re going to be really good and really fun to watch.”
Still, there’s a lot of excitement for the Lady Panthers.
The team will begin its 2024 season at 4 p.m. Jan. 2 against Lubbock Monterey at Ratliff Stadium.
The Lady Panthers will then get a number of challenges when they travel to play in the Richland Tournament from Jan. 4-6 which will include Keller and Crandall, just to name a few.
“The excitement level is always the same spot,” Peterson said. “We have to take a break for Christmas and then we come back and hit the ground really hard. We go to the Richland Tournament and will face some pretty good teams. Then, we play in the national showcase the next week so we’re going to find out a lot about ourselves really quick.”
The Lady Panthers are focused on shoring up their back line and figuring out how to move the ball forward.
“We have a lot of attacking players that have really bought in and understand how we want them to go forward,” Peterson said. “We’re not worried about getting chances or if they’re going to be the quality chances that we desire … It’s going to be a strong side. We just have to find a way to mesh all the kids coming back with the talented crop of freshmen we have. They didn’t come here to get a cool shirt and sit on the bench.”
The Lady Panthers will begin district play against their rivals Odessa High on Feb. 2 at Ratliff Stadium.
Peterson knows how difficult district play will be.
“It’s the same song and dance,” Peterson said. “You can expect every game to be massive in this district. You can pick a team out of this district and everyone has either been a district champion or a runner up or have made a deep playoff run. The players really have to step up and respect the process and respect the opponent each and every day. “
