The Panthers U13 girls soccer team, Ice, played for the first time this weekend with almost a full roster and only a handful of injured players. On Saturday they beat Homewood-Flossmoor Red 5-0 and on Sunday they tied Homewood-Flossmoor White 0-0.

On Saturday, Ice came out ready to attack, and started peppering the H-F Red goalmouth with shots. The opening goal came from Taylor Gibson, who added another one later, and was followed by goals from Kate Stefanski, Emily Maslanka, and Caeleigh Morton. Sierra McWilliams did a great job on right wing providing many crosses in to the forwards but much of the credit for this game goes to the incredible defensive work of Stefanski, Chandre Roos, Dana Stout, and Madison Naro who parked themselves around the half-way line and just refused to let H-F get across. Holly Schwarz and Brittany Straznickas in particular did a great job of hussling back from midfield to bolster the defense when needed, as well as helping Bridgett Leverich, Nina Hauser, Amy Annala, Victoria Short and the others push the attack.

On Sunday, playing with a strong wind in their favor in the first half, Ice just didnt take advantage of it, allowing the H-F White team to beat them to balls they normally would easily have won, though Taylor Robinson, Roos, Maslanka and McWilliams all worked very hard. In the second half, Ice picked up the pace a bit, but by then they were playing into the wind, and still couldn't quite work it out despite a few scoring opportunities.

Despite Sundays disappointing result, Ice are still undefeated so far this season. For more information on Ice, see their web site, http://www.panthersoccerclub.org/index.php/Ice.html.