After seeing its first three matches of the season come without a victory (two losses and a tie), the Kingwood Park Panthers men’s soccer team is now in the win column in 2018.
Participating at the Panther Cup soccer tournament this past weekend at Turner Stadium, the Panthers showed well, winning two of the three matches in group play, even though they fell short in a penalty kick final.
The Panthers started out this past Thursday with a match against George Ranch in group play, and even though the Panthers got a goal from Patrick Roach, it was the Longhorns who came out victorious, 2-1.
The Panthers’ next match was on a chilly Friday night at Turner Stadium against Tomball. In this game, the Panthers fell behind as well.
This time, however, they climbed back and thanks to two goals from Roach and additional goals from Kade Banning and Gage Guerra, the Panthers picked up a 4-2 win.
The Panthers’ final game of group play was Saturday afternoon against Cesar Chavez; the first half went by without a goal.
But, about halfway through the second half, the Panthers picked up two goals in less than five minutes.
First, Roach scored in the 64th minute, and then about five minutes later, Banning struck for an insurance tally to make the final score 2-0 Panthers.
The two wins in three matches were enough for the Panthers to make a penalty kick final against Cy-Lakes, who won all three of their matches in pool play.
Unfortunately for the Panthers, it was Cy-Lakes who came out on top 5-3 in penalty kicks to win the tournament title.
The Panthers’ first home match of 2018 comes on Tuesday, at home against Sam Rayburn; after that they will take on South Houston on Friday, also at Kingwood Park.