Undermanned Panthers get the job done

There is no question that York College women’s head soccer coach Trent Hinton and assistant coach Matt Coppinger believe in their team.

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But even they had to wonder just how well they would fare against Cloud County Community College on Saturday, playing with no subs.
They brought 11, left with 11 and during the course of the afternoon they picked up a 2-1 win over the Cloud County Thunderbirds at East Hill Park.
At the start it looked like Cloud County might make it a long afternoon for the Panthers as they had several scoring chances in the first five minutes of the game, only to see the Panthers battle their way through some early problems and keep the score tied at 0-0.
Just a little over 10 minutes into the game the Panthers didn’t waste a scoring chance as Grand Island’s Terra New scored on a breakaway by punching the ball past the Cloud County keeper at the 29:12 mark for a 1-0 lead.
York’s defense started to take control of the game as they did not allow the Thunderbirds to get untracked and continued to play aggressively all afternoon.
In the second half the Panthers would go up 2-0 when Sarah VanDeusen scored giving the YC women a little bit of breathing room.
As the afternoon wore on the Panthers started to show signs of wearing down as the Thunderbirds trimmed the lead to 2-1 at the 9:16 mark on a goal from Angeline Hernandez.
With about four minutes to play Cloud County’s Nakita Menefee broke free and was headed towards the tying goal. Thinking quickly, York keeper Kate Loney charged at Menefee and the two met at the ball almost at the same time. Loney prevented the score and the Panthers held on.
The season starts for real for the Panthers next Saturday as they travel to Mitchell, S.D., to take on Dakota Wesleyan.
Until then the Panthers will savor Saturday’s win.

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