GIRLS SOCCER: Despite hanging tough, Permian falls to Wolfforth Frenship after late goal

For 67 minutes, the Permian girls soccer team held district leader Wolfforth Frenship in check.

Then, a free kick from 35 yards away from Permian’s net decided the game.

That’s when a looping ball bounced in Permian’s penalty box and wasn’t cleared, allowing a Wolfforth Frenship striker to get her head to the ball and send it over the outstretched hands of Lady Panthers’ goalkeeper Jenafur Warren and into the back of the net.

Wolfforth Frenship downed Permian 1-0 in District 2-6A play Friday night at Ratliff’s turf field.

“Tonight for the first time in a long time, we stepped up to play the match,” Permian head coach Chad Peterson said. “At times I thought we played it very, very well. At the end it comes down to that dreaded looping ball into the box that for some reason has just got our number this year.”

Permian (13-6-1 overall, 2-4-0-1 district, seven points) nearly became the first team to score on Wolfforth Frenship in district play as Tobi McCoy and Jaden Sosa both created scoring chances in the first half that went astray.

The Lady Panthers didn’t give the Lady Tigers many scoring chances in the first half, but did allow Frenship striker Natalie Jones to hit a shot the slammed off the post in the 30th minute.

At halftime, Peterson talked with his team about staying active and giving itself more than a moral victory against the reigning undefeated district champions.

Wolfforth Frenship (16-2-1, 7-0-0-0, 21 points) pushed on the gas for the game’s final 40 minutes, but couldn’t find an offensive rhythm with the Permian defensive trio of Elissa Easley, Kendra Cecil and Kristen Saloman keeping out plenty of Lady Tiger attempts.

The Lady Tigers got their second-best chance of the game in the 63rd minute when Jones and other attackers got behind the Lady Panthers’ backline, causing Warren to make a diving save. The ensuing rebound was cleared off the goal line by Saloman.

“The longer that this game went, it looked more and more like the points, at least one, was going to be available,” Peterson said.

Then the free kick with 13 minutes left in the game that Permian couldn’t handle occurred, ending its string of momentum against District 2-6A’s best.

“It was frustrating you know because we worked so hard and you could tell, we were dominating the game,” Permian junior midfielder Natalie Terry said. “Everything was clicking and everything was going and to give it up last minute really is frustrating. But I’m so proud of how we improved from the last game, it’s a big turnaround.”

After falling behind, Peterson tried a few lineup changes, bringing in forwards Joanna Mendoza and Kayla Brito with nine minutes left. The Lady Panthers also pulled out their rarely-used three-striker formation in the game’s last four minutes with Abby Ward entering the contest.

However, Permian was held scoreless for the second straight game. Despite the loss, Permian may have gained some valuable experience against a quality team.

“It gives us confidence for sure,” Terry said. “We can compete with Frenship. We can compete with any of the teams in our district. We see we can do it and now every game, this is the standard.”

“In the end, I think we deserved more out of it, but that’s the game,” Peterson added. “We finally got a very solid, full match out of our team … everybody worked hard, we pulled hard for each other, we covered for each other. We looked pretty good tonight. There’s not a whole lot of things I can say bad about what we did tonight.”