It felt like a lot longer wait than two days for the Lady Panthers to get back on the field after falling to East Coweta for their first loss of the season last Friday, but the Lady Panthers bounced back and defeated Northgate 2-0 Monday night in a battle of two of the top three teams in the region.

“We knew early that this stretch of games was going to tell us a lot about our team,” head coach John Bowen said. “It was real frustrating not to walk away with the three points on Friday night, all credit to East Coweta for playing a great game, but these are the games that we’re going to have to play our best.”

Each team seemed a little bit slower than normal, with Northgate playing their seventh game in the past three weeks and Starr’s Mill on short rest from Friday.

“I think both teams played a little bit more lethargic tonight,” Bowen said. “It looked like both teams were already on break a little early. It’s alright when both teams do it, but we can’t get out-hustled in games like this.”

It didn’t take too long for the Lady Panthers to score in the night’s opening matchup. Junior Ashton Nowicki got on the board first with a header finding the top left corner after a perfect corner kick by senior Dylan Patterson in the 14th minute of action.

The Panthers controlled the possession for the majority of the first 30 minutes and was more aggressive, getting several other chances at the goal. However, Northgate changed the pace of the game and was able to get a few scoring opportunities before halftime but couldn’t capitalize.

The action resumed after the break with the Lady Panthers up 1-0 and the Vikings continued their attack at the Panther goal. The best chance that Northgate had to score came about 10 minutes into the second half, when the Viking attack was able to beat junior Ashton Nowicki to get a clear path to the goal. However, Patterson intervened and cleared the ball out of the box.

Two minutes later, the Vikings had another chance to score, when a miscommunication between goalkeeper senior Ashlyn Walloch and her back line left an open half of the goal. The Northgate striker slightly missed the right goal post, basically ending their scoring opportunities.

“I think me just getting to know those players and learning how to play with them takes time, and I’m still trying to learn how to teach them a little better because I’ve always been the one learning from the upperclassman,” Patterson said.

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Senior Lauren Yoss put the exclamation point on the victory when she scored from right outside the box with 8:48 left in the game to increase the lead to the final score of 2-0. She was set up by a perfect pass from Clark on a counterattack that the Viking defense could do nothing to stop.

“She’s got a great leg,” Bowen said. “I really believe that any shot she takes from within 30 yards has a chance to go in from no matter where she shoots it. That’s just the type of player that she is.”

After shutting out Northgate, the Lady Panthers moved two games ahead of their Coweta County rival in the Region 4-AAAAA standings and now sit at 12-1-0 overall and 8-0 in the region.

There was one injury scare during the game when Clark subbed out with 2:32 left in the game after someone stepped on her foot. Bowen said that she will take it day-by-day, but he doesn’t think it’s too serious of an injury and she is expected to play by the next game on Thursday.

The Lady Panthers will look to build on their new win streak when they travel to Marist to take on the War Eagles in a non-region matchup. It will be the third straight game on the road.

“I think we’re playing pretty well,” Patterson said. “There are just a lot of new players in the back, but they’re playing their best and working as hard as they can, and I think they’re going to be great by the end of the season and especially when they’re seniors.”