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Stalemate: Scoreless draw denies Panthers' first win
BY Matt Welch, mwelch@acnpapers.com
GARLAND -- As of Thursday, the Plano East boys soccer team had played four matches.
And while only having one loss, the Panthers were still in search of their first win heading into the Garland Invitational Tournament.
The team's opener in that event against Garland Naaman Forest went akin to its decisions against South Grand Prairie and Midland at the Coppell Kickoff Classic one week prior, ending in a tie for the third consecutive time.
"The tying thing is kind of getting old," said Rick Woodard, East head coach. "But we didn't have the mental mistakes we made in the prior two games, so that's definitely a plus. Offensively, we've got to take advantage of what we created where it was one-on-one with the keeper and while it was outside the goal, we've got to bury those."
The Panthers' opportunities came few and far between during Thursday's matchup, with just one shot keyed within the goalposts occupied by Juan Santibanez: a shot by junior Gustavo Piedra that was partially deflected by a Ranger defender and puttered its way into the waiting arms of Santibanez during the 41st minute.
Any other attempts were off frame.
"A lot of it was what we were doing," Woodard said. "Instead of spreading them out and us working the angles, we were going right up the middle and we weren't spreading the ball out enough."
The Rangers weren't anymore fortunate, despite making East senior Steven Pierce work for his five saves on goal Thursday. Four of those defensive stands came within the first half, notably during the third minute of the matchup when a frozen rope from Preston McCormac was denied by a diving Pierce. Two minutes later, McCormac had a second crack at Pierce after clearing past the East defense into a 1 v. 1 situation, but pressure from the keeper forced McCormac's shot well wide of the net.
The rest of Pierce's exploits included breaking up many a Naaman corner kick by snatching the ball and turning away a header by Hunter Tipton off a free kick in the 62nd minute.
Any other stops were made primarily by the unit of senior Colby England, sophomore Daniel Antoniou and junior Connor Cunningham on defense.
"The defense did very well today," Woodard said. "Our goalkeeper, Steven, did very well. Given the mental mistakes we've had, they sharpened things up quite a bit today. I was very pleased with the way we played defensively."
Despite an opportune Ranger attack early, the Panthers didn't budge with the game's closest chance coming in the 60th minute when a cross from Chandler Myers looked to have been converted for a goal by Evan Bozman, only for the score to be waved off after the refs ruled Myers out of bounds prior to the pass.
The Panthers didn't enjoy a circumstance that close on offense, blanked on the scoreboard for the second time this season.
East completed the tournament with matchups against Allen's junior varsity, North Garland, Sachse's JV and Sachse, which represented the last line of opponents before the Panthers open district Feb. 3 against Flower Mound Marcus.
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