South soccer hits skid, before stretch run

If the Park Hill South Lady Panthers were going to hit a losing skid this season, their past couples games wouldn’t necessarily be a bad time to do so. In the middle of a five game stretch over eight days, the Panthers have lost the first two. The first was a close 1-0 loss to Liberty, which was rained out after one half of play. The second came Monday night in a 2-0 loss to Staley. Luckily for South, none of those games will have an effect on their district seeding and neither will the next three with play against Fort Osage still taking place as The Citizen goes to press Tuesday night and a match with Park Hill scheduled for Thursday.

Normally, this week would play a huge role in shaping the district tournament seeding, but with much of the Panther schedule arranged several years in advance, the games remained in place despite new districts being established in the meantime. With that in mind Coach Joe Toigo isn’t worried about his team’s recent string of losses.

“It’s a tight stretch. We thought these would be district games because they were two years ago when we scheduled them,” Coach Joe Toigo said. “More or less these are just scrimmage games. I think we’re ok. I’m not worried about anything right now.”

One opportunity Toigo is using during this stretch is to see what lineup he’ll be able to use once postseason play comes around. With the loss of senior Haley Shelton in last Friday’s loss to Liberty, seeing who can fit where comes with an even added importance. Learning now, even if it includes losing, will hopefully lead to wins at the end of the season.

“My kids have to overcome my approach right now, which is to play a lot of kids in pressure situations so we know who we can rely on when districts start. This is a good run for us to evaluate those players,” Toigo said.

Aside from a 9-0 win over Fort Osage last week, the Panthers have been out of sync offensively over recent weeks and will try to get back their offensive attack over their last three regular season games next week. The Panthers, now at 11-3-2, begin district play the week of May 14th.