The matchup between the Permian and San Angelo Central girls soccer teams was expected to be a highly competitive showdown between two of the top squads in District 2-6A.
A surge in the second half helped San Angelo Central find a late edge, defeating Permian 2-1 Tuesday at the Ratliff Stadium.
“They’re always a stout team, any time you play San Angelo it’s a challenge,” Permian girls soccer coach Chad Peterson said. “Quite frankly, we just were not up for it.”
San Angelo Central started the match with an aggressive approach, sending its strikers to press and force the Lady Panthers into uncomfortable spots early.
The Lady Cats used their defensive game plan to start attacking and Lexi Templin took advantage to send in San Angelo Central’s first shot on goal about five minutes after the match started.
That attempt went over the Permian cross bar and proved to be one of the most dangerous looks for both teams in the first 20 minutes of the contest.
Permian tried to get some passing combinations going to break through the Lady Cats’ back line, but found it difficult to get past the four-player setup.
The Lady Panthers got their first clear scoring chance about 21 minutes into the first half and made the most of it to take the lead.
Nyxalee Munoz got in front of a San Angelo Central throw-in, controlled the ball and quickly turned around to send in a left-footed shot from long distance.
“You have to be able to finish it when you get a chance,” Peterson said. “The bigger problem is that for the next 78 minutes, we spent the time turning it to defenders, poor touches and poor decisions going forward.
“Bottom line is, we created one half look for ourselves, we took it and it went in the back of the net.”
After the goal, the Lady Panthers gained confidence and started sending more players up to attack and tried to add on to their advantage.
Munoz closed out the first half with another close attempt on goal, seeing her final shot roll past the left post of the San Angelo Central goal.
The Lady Cats also had their chance to even things up before the half ended, when a through ball from Ava Ybarra almost ended up in front of Emilee Sikora.
Madison Morga cut the pass off and ended the opportunity.
San Angelo Central regained its attacking rhythm and started making its move toward the Permian goal to start the second half.
After making quick combination passes to spread the Permian defense, the Lady Cats got on the scoreboard with two long distance shots.
Abil Kalnbach tied the match up, with Ava Ybarra giving San Angelo Central the lead with 13 minutes left in the period.
Permian couldn’t create clear scoring chances late in the match, as the Lady Cats maintained their defensive shape to slow down any counterattacks.
Peterson said he wants his team to remember its showing against the Lady Cats going forward to learn from any mistakes and avoid them.
“They need to understand, not only that they can be beat but they can be beat easily when they don’t do the work,” Peterson said. “We had the same problem in the first half with Midland High, Midland High came out to work in the first half and we came out to play.
“Workers always beat players.”
The Lady Panthers (7-3-2 overall, 3-1-1 district) will next face Midland Legacy at 5:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at Grande Communications Stadium in Midland.
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
