Seven games into the season, coach Mike Hanie said he realizes his team is at a disadvantage.
“We have a really young team,” said Hanie, who has been coaching here for 15 years. . “We have a lot of 15- to 16-year olds playing against 17- to 18-year-olds.”
He said this youth causes them to make more mistakes than they should, and not play fast enough.
Hanie said these problems have contributed to early losses to bigger schools.
“Our first four games were against teams in the top four in their classifications,” Hanie said.
Despite this, senior defenseman Patrick Spencer said he is confident in the team’s abilities. “We have played some good teams so far,” Spencer said. “Our age has shown because we are very young, but I’ve been proud because we have never given up and are getting better each game.”
Last Thursday night, Mt. Zion came to Panther Stadium and was defeated 6-0 in a blowout victory.
“Throughout the game, we played strong on offense and defense,” Spencer said. “This allowed us to dominate them in all parts of the field.”
Two days before that on Tuesday night, the Panthers faced off against Whitewater but lost 5-2 in a hard-fought game. “We struggled with containing their top two players,” Hanie said. “We played well at times and they made us pay when we made mistakes.”
Junior center back Tylan Jones and sophomore forward Jahmeil Curwen scored the team’s two goals.
“The first half was very close. After going down by one goal, we knew we had to pick it up,” Jones said. “In the second half, we had trouble on defense and conceded two more goals.”
On Feb. 22, the Panthers played St. Pius X and were shutout 5-0. St. Pius started seven seniors against seven sophomores, confirming the age gap Hanie pointed out.
“It has been tough at times playing against older teams, but we have handled the pressure well,” Curwen said.
In the first home game against Drew on Feb. 20, the Panthers played strong, winning 5-0. This game followed an exciting 2-1 road-game win against Carrollton on Feb. 18 despite a late surge by the Trojans.
“Spencer and Jones played well late in the game on defense,” Hanie said. “They helped hold off two late chances.”
The Panthers started their season with a tough 4-0 road loss to Harrison on Feb. 15.
“This was a disappointing loss against a strong team,” junior midfielder Walter Hix said. “It is early and we are still working on different positions, but we will get better as the season goes on.”
Their next game is tonight at 5:30 p.m. at home against Northgate High School.