In Permian’s last home game at Ratliff Stadium this season, it gave Midland Lee all it could handle offensively.
The Lady Panthers dominated possession to force more than a dozen scoring chances and easily secured a victory.
Permian downed Midland Lee 5-0 in District 2-6A action Friday night with goals coming from four different Lady Panthers.
Playing in most likely her last match at Ratliff Stadium, Permian senior Avery Rodriguez opened the scoring in the game four minutes in.
After a throw-in was cleared by Midland Lee’s defense, the ball dribbled to Rodriguez’s feet about 35 yards away from goal. She had enough time to compose herself and strike the ball toward the net. The shot caught Midland Lee goalie Jenna McEnaney off guard, making her backpedal in order to try and make the save.
The ball went off McEnaney’s fingertips and into the top of the net.
“I definitely thought I hit that over,” Rodriguez said about her goal. “I was really surprised honestly. In practice, I’ll take shots like that but never in a real game have I taken a shot from that far and actually made it.”
For the second straight game, Permian (8-6-0 overall, 3-0-0-2 District 2-6A, nine points) pressed on in hopes of a second goal before halftime.
Despite creating more chances than it did in Tuesday’s win over Amarillo Tascosa, Permian couldn’t find the net again until after the second-half whistle blew.
“There’s still a lot to play before we can talk about playoffs but this has always kind of been a trap game for us,” Permian head coach Chad Peterson said about the matchup against Midland Lee. “The last two, three, four years we’ve walked into Midland Lee with a little bit of a big head and not so much of a spring in our step. In the second half, (the team) really stepped up quite well.”
Once Permian started scoring in the second half, it rarely stopped. The Lady Panthers doubled their lead over the Lady Rebels (3-7-3, 0-1-0-4, two points) four minutes into the second half on a free kick.
Permian midfielder Katey Stice struck the direct free kick just over the head of Kyree Moreno — instead colliding with the back of a Midland Lee defender and ricocheted into the net for an own goal.
Five minutes later, Kyree Moreno extended Permian’s lead and seven minutes after that, a Tobi McCoy strike increased Permian’s lead to four.
McCoy dribbled the ball through a Lady Rebel defender’s legs and ripped a shot into the top-right corner of the net to cement the victory for Permian.
“It gives us more confidence to go forward in the second half,” McCoy said about the team’s five-goal night. “We finished throughout the whole 80 minutes and we played together really well.”
Lady Panthers’ sophomore Kendra Cecil made it a quintet of Permian goals with five minutes left in the game after a ball rolled into her path off of a corner kick.
At the halfway point of district play, Permian sits in a three-way tie for second place in the standings with Odessa High and Midland High. That trio is seven points ahead of Midland Lee, who is out of a playoff spot in fifth place.
“In the beginning, I was a little nervous honestly but we learned how to play together a lot better,” Rodriguez said about her team’s play in district. “I think we’re doing pretty good.”
Permian now has a week off and will return to action Feb. 28 against Midland High. Four of Permian’s final five district games will be away from Odessa. Its lone home game is on March 10 against Odessa High at Ratliff’s Turf Field.
“I think hopefully they see after tonight that continuing to put the ball into dangerous positions leads to good things,” Peterson said. “When you get the other team facing their own goal and trying to defend, anything can happen, and it happened tonight. Tonight we took our chances really well.”
