[caption id="attachment_4590" align="alignleft" width="396"] Photo Credit: Will Okun. Megan Joyner goes to kick the ball.[/caption]
The varsity Lady Panther soccer team played Oxford Webb, a conference rival, Wednesday, April 10. The Panthers survived with a clean escape, gaining their first conference victory. The JV and varsity teams traveled to Eagle territory to play Eastern Alamance on Friday, April 11. Both teams came out with a loss after a hard-fought game.
Wednesday the varsity team kicked off an intense match against the Oxford Webb Warriors on their home turf. They came away unscathed with a 7-0 win. The Panthers scored two quick goals within the first 10 minutes of the game, and by the end of the half they had six goals, four of them scored by the Shinnick sisters, Rachel Shinnick with one and Becca Shinnick with the other three. Ashley Badstein, the starting keeper for OHS, had a shutout in the first half, and Becca Shinnick also had a clean break in goal in the second half, tipping the ball over the goal on a close shot from the Lady Warriors.
The Warriors held strong in the second half, only conceding one goal in the last 20 minutes of the half. The Panther’s seventh goal came from Kaela Lane, a junior, who finished a cross from out wide and headed it over the keeper into the goal. The game concluded at a win, 7-0, for the Lady Panthers. This is the third conference game that the Panthers have played, however this is their first conference victory. Rowan Jaynes, a sophomore center defender for the team, said, “I thought that we were very well prepared for this game. We were able to work on the things we needed to work on and build as a team.”
Friday the OHS Panthers suffered a tough defeat against Eastern Alamance. The JV team started, coming out with a strong offensive force. After 20 minutes of evenly matched competition, the Eagles squeezed through the Panther’s back line, scoring three goals, making the final score 3-0. In an interview with Maggie Asuncion, starting center mid for the OHS team, she said, “Our goal as a team is to win our final game.” Instead of dwelling on the defeat, they are focusing on improving for their final game against Cedar Ridge.
Following the first match, the varsity team kicked off at 6:45. Before the start of the game, Eastern Alamance held a moment of silence for Desmond Piccini, a student from their school who had recently passed away. In honor of Piccini, Eastern wore blue bows in their hair, and the OHS Panthers played with green wristbands on. From the very beginning, the game was full of physicality and fierce competition, with both teams fostering a rivalry. Eastern went ahead in the first half, scoring off of a cross with a header into the corner of the goal. The score remained stagnant until the final third of the game when the Eagles finalized the score at 3-0 with two additional goals. The Panthers, who had prepared for a rematch after an earlier defeat in the season, played a solid game, although the score didn’t reflect their effort.
At the end of the week, the Panthers came out with a conference victory, further pushing them ahead in the playoff standings. Although they suffered a tough loss from Eastern Alamance, they are deciding to focus their efforts on improving for the upcoming conference games.
Thursday, March 13, 20 students from Orange High School went to Alamance Community College to learn about careers in medicine. Students from Orange who went on the field trip possibly want to go into the health profession. Cedar Ridge High School also attended as well as schools from Chapel Hill and Alamance County. Different medical profession representatives were there, like dental assistants and medical office assistants.
CTE, or Career and Technical Education, accrued a grant a few years ago that funds Pathways to Prosperity. One of the pathways it funds is the health science/health pathway, which helps because more people are needed in the health profession.
On the field trip, students went to three different sessions during the day, which included a hands-on session, admissions requirement session, and a business connection session.
“I think that students need to understand that there are other alternatives to going to a four-year college. Community college provides certification to many job fields. You can get your associate’s degree while going to work,” said Evelyn DeLoatch, who works in the Career Center at Orange. “I think that the students need to rethink ways to be successful,” DeLoatch added.