ROME — Coming into the weekend on a 2-match slide NEB coach Joel Howland was looking for a spark, and may have found one on Saturday as the Panthers went 1-1 at their annual girls soccer tournament.

The Panthers opened with a 2-0 win over Mountain View, then lost to Midd-West on penalties after the match ended in a 1-1 tie. The Mustangs won the penalty shootout 3-1.

"The girls played great all day long," said Howland. "They really pressed the ball, our defense cleaned everything up, and Maggie Chappell played wonderful. We were on the attack all day, but things just didn't go our way towards the end. Taking a team like Midd-West, we all know how tough they are, taking them to a PK shootout, that's a big accomplishment."

Midd-West came into the tournament on a five match win streak, and had allowed just one goal all season long.

"We scored another one, and we're pretty happy about that," Howland said. "Hat's off to them. That team is exceptional, and it was a lot of fun playing."

In the win over Mountain View the Panthers got a pair of second half goals from Mallorie Maynard and Kara Dughi to get the win.

NEB had a 13-12 edge in shots while Mountain View had a 5-2 advantage in corner kicks.

Chappell made six saves in net to get the clean sheet.

In the Midd-West match Emilie Maynard hit a penalty kick late in the first half for a 1-0 lead.

The Mustangs would score on a direct kick just before the half for a 1-1 lead at the break.

The game stayed like that for the second 40 minutes, leading to the shoutout.

Mallorie Maynard scored for NEB, but their next two shots were over the cross-bar, and Midd-West keeper Addison Maust saved the fourth one to clinch it for the Mustangs.

The Panthers improve to 4-6-1 on the year with a key battle at Wyalusing coming in up on Tuesday.

"Our team is really pumped up with the way they played today," said Howland. "That momentum should carry over into next week. We want to make a run at districts we've got to go now."

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