Panthers drown Pirates 7-0

RANGELY — The Rangely Panthers soccer team gave the visiting Olathe Pirates an April Fool’s surprise at Yaeger Field beating them 7-0. The win came after a 3-0 loss to Vail Mountain in Vail last Thursday when the Panthers were outshot 22 to 8. They took it out on Olathe Tuesday afternoon.
Senior Whitney Chumacero opened up the scoring in the first half and the rest of the Panthers played tough defense.
“The girls started out a bit weak but picked it up,” head coach Kris Denny explained. Pick it up they did. The Panthers never looked back once the second half of the game began.
The second goal of the game was a long shot that sailed over the head of the Olathe goalie, putting the girls up 2-0 with lots of time left. And they took advantage of it.
The third goal was a rebound out front of the Olathe net. The fourth, a corner kick deflection. The Panthers changed their goalie from junior Hillary Hayes, who had seen almost no action, to freshmen Torie Slagle.
Freshman Mikayla Schoenfeld helped out on the fifth goal when she snaked her way around an Olathe defender, made the pass out front and Chumacero slammed it home. Nothing to it. They scored another to make it 6-0 and right at the buzzer, a seventh for the 7-0 final.
Chumacero boasted 14 shots on net and scored three goals in the game. Her favorite was one goal in particular. “My corner kick one was pretty sweet.”
Schoenfeld had 11 shots on net, with one goal. Senior Hannah Walz also played a great game, totaling nine shots on net with one goal.
“I kicked at it as I was falling and it went in,” she explained.
Rangely out shot Olathe 53 to 2.
The Panthers take on the Coal Ridge Titans today at home starting at 4 p.m.