Knoxville takes the win in Panther face-off
Apr. 7—The Creston/Nodaway Valley girls soccer team fell to 0-3 Thursday after a 12-2 home loss against the Knoxville Panthers.
Knoxville set the pace early, finding a goal in the first minute. Creston/NV worked to stave off the offensive attack with a save by goalie Keyana Peterson, but a second shot at the goal put Knoxville up 2-0 with three minutes elapsed.
"It was a difficult game today. The girls are still learning," Coach Adrian Flores said. "We've still got several more games. We've got to focus more on passing, dribbling and communication out there."
Junior Lydia Goins found the Panthers' first goal of the season with a low corner kick seven minutes into the game, cutting the lead to 2-1.
From there, Knoxville went on an offensive run, scoring five times in nine minutes.
"They have a good, solid team," Flores said of Knoxville. "They're fast; they communicate. The stuff that we need to do, they have it."
Junior Zoe Ralston stopped Knoxville's run with a goal of her own in the second part of the first half, and Creston/NV was able to hold Knoxville to the 7-2 score until halftime.
"I took our goalie out so our JV could get some experience," Flores said. "We also moved players to some different spots where they're more comfortable playing. We used the speed also to hold them back a little bit."
JV goalie MaKenzie Baker had multiple saves throughout the second half including back-to-back saves early.
Knoxville got up to an 11-2 lead 15 minutes into the second half, only needing one more score to end the game.
Creston/NV fought back defensively, holding off the game's end for 18 minutes before Knoxville found a final goal to make the score 12-2.
"It was a difficult opponent, but we scored on them this time. We have played easier teams before that we struggled," Flores said. "The girls played pretty good today. They scored on them, and it was a pretty difficult team."
The Panthers return to action tonight at home against West Central Valley.
