The Portal women’s varsity soccer team hosted Screven County on Tuesday evening. The Lady Panthers’ comeback attempt fell short as they lost 3-2.
Before the Portal fans could even catch their breath, the team found themselves down 3-0. A goal by Portal’s Maggie Brannen made the score 3-1 with about 6 minutes left in the first half.
The Lady Panthers entered the half down 3-1. They came out of the break attacking as Colby Stewart scored a goal in the opening minute to cut the deficit to 1. Unfortunately for Portal, that would be the last score of the game.
The Panthers did a good job of keeping possession of the ball, but could not capitalize when it came time to put it through the net. Screven County was excellent on the defensive end. The Gamecocks showed a lot of aggression and tenacity when Portal got in scoring position.
After starting the season 10-0-1, Portal has lost 2 of their last 3 games. The team is coming off of a week long break and that may have played into why they started so slow. Head Coach Johnnie Sanchez was displeased with how his team came out of the gate.
“We have to play with intensity and we have to play smart,” Sanchez said. “We started slow and they capitalized off of it, and once we woke up we had them the entire second half.”
With only one game remaining until the playoffs, coach Sanchez reiterated how important it is that his team plays all 80 minutes. “We can’t let this happen again,” Sanchez said. “If not, it is going to affect us in the playoffs.”
Portal’s record falls to 11-2-1 while Screven County improves to 8-6 on the season. Portal has already clinched the regular season region title, but they don’t want to relax this late into the season.
UP NEXT:
The Portal Panthers women’s varsity soccer team will take on Wheeler County on Friday. The game will be on the road and will start at 5:00 p.m. This will be the final regular season game.
