The Powell soccer teams participated in their first games of the season in Buffalo this past weekend, garnering a win and a tie.

The Panthers pulled off a 3-0 win against the Bison. In the first half, freshman Hawkin Sweeney and sophomore Sam Bauer each scored a goal. Sweeney scored again in the second half, making the final goal of the game.

“It felt amazing,” Sweeney said. “After I set up for the penalty kick I had so much adrenaline running and after I made the goal I was just so happy.”

The Panthers are looking forward to the rest of the season and expecting good results.

“There’s room for improvement,” Bauer said. “And I think we’ll be great by the end of the season.”

Sweeney has a similar outlook on the season.

“I would say the team played amazing and with tons of confidence,” Sweeney said. “If we played like we did this past Saturday, I believe this is going to be a fun season.”

The Lady Panthers ended their game in a 2-2 tie with Buffalo. Senior Jaya Smith and junior Michele Wagner each scored, one in each half. The two goals against Powell were the result of handballs inside the box that led to penalty kicks.

After coming away with the tie, the Lady Panthers are optimistic about the rest of the season.

“I would say our team played pretty awesome for it being our first game of the season,” senior Jalie Timmons said. “If we keep playing like we did our first game, we should do awesome.”

Going to the state tournament also seems like a good possibility for the Lady Panthers this season.

“We will be at state no doubt,” Smith said. “I am definitely not looking forward to this season being my last season, but I am definitely looking forward to making memories with my family (team) one last time.”

After losing to Buffalo last year in the deciding game to go to state, the Lady Panthers brought away good memories of coming back and being able to hold off the team.

“I think the best part of the game, though, was the incredible goal that Jaya made,” senior Sadie Wenzel said. “It was a really well thought-out attack and crash that was able to happen because of the incredible teamwork that we had up the field.

The Lady Panther JV team was not able to come away with a win, losing 4-0 to the Buffalo JV team. The Panther JV team, on the other hand, pulled off a 4-3 win.

The Panther team will be traveling to Worland on Friday, March 22. to compete in a tournament. The Lady Panthers will leave Thursday, March 21. to travel to  Green River for a tournament.