The Permian girls soccer team needed some time to get into a rhythm in its Class 6A bi-district round playoff match against El Paso Americas Thursday at Ratliff Stadium.
Things fell into place in the second half with the Lady Panthers coming away with a 4-2 victory to advance to the area round.
Permian girls soccer coach Chad Peterson said his team is notorious for starting slow, something he thought would be avoided with three solid days of practice.
“Luckily they found their pace early in the second half,” Peterson said. “We were able to put a third player high, keep applying pressure on them and pushing them to the brink.
“Finally the well broke open.”
The Trail Blazers gave Permian some issues early in the contest, showing that they were willing to lose the possession battle and wait for quick counterattacks.
That paid off eight minutes into the first half as Kaitlyn Olivas used her speed to get past the Lady Panther defense and send a low shot past the goalkeeper.
Permian spent the rest of the period trying to figure out how to tie the contest up, leaning on through ball passing to Nyxalee Munoz.
The striker created the most consistent opportunities for the Lady Panthers in the half, taking three shots on goal.
Mya Gonzales almost gave Permian its first score of the contest with an angled shot that bounced off the right post of the El Paso Americas goal with seven minutes left before the break.
Permian couldn’t find the back of the net through the first 40 minutes of play, but it didn’t take long to tie the match up in the second half.
After Anai Lopez worked her way through the defense, she sent a low cross to Gonzales who pushed it past the goalkeeper with 36 minutes left in the period.
Lopez showed her awareness about nine minutes later, taking advantage of a bounce off a defender inside the 18-yard box to give Permian its first lead of the match.
She was originally called offsides by the linesman before the main referee confirmed the score.
Peterson said he was told the defender intentionally played the ball, making it land at the feet of the attacker in an offside spot.
“We had enough bad bounces that we put ourselves through the second half of the season and for sure the last couple of weeks,” Peterson said. “It’s good that one of them falls our way for once.”
With 19 minutes left in regulation, El Paso Americas got an opportunity to tie things back up when a penalty kick was awarded off a foul inside the box.
Jayde Gone converted the shot to give her team a momentum boost.
Gonzales gave Permian another lead by pushing in a low cross from Munoz, with Lopez sealing the victory by sending a shot into the top right corner of the El Paso Americas goal.
El Paso Americas coach Jose Valles said his team stuck to its game plan and made a strong impression with 10 freshmen on the varsity squad.
He saw his seniors take initiative in leading their younger teammates through the campaign.
“They leave back a great example of what a leader is, so that helped a lot with our season,” Valles said. “The skill is one thing but the attitude and mentality takes you far.”
The Lady Panthers (13-5-3 overall) will face the winner of the match between Hurst L.D. Bell and Keller Timber Creek in the next round, with details of that contest still being finalized.
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