The Knoxville girls soccer team took a 1-0 lead and nearly held it throughout the entire first half, but couldn’t hang on as the Indianola girls won the season opener for both teams 3-2 at Indianola stadium.

Taylor Jones put the Panthers up early in the first half on a penalty kick, and the Panthers held off the Indians until the first half buzzer sounded when the Indians earned a penalty kick which Anna Miller converted to tie the score at half. Mia Lerseth then scored a goal for the Indians in the 60th minute, followed up by a Remy Sivertsen goal in the 68th minute to take a 3-1 lead. Jones made it a one-goal game again with a free kick conversion from long distance, and nearly converted again on a corner kick with just seconds to go, but the Indians held off and got the win.

Indians senior forward Alyvia Fuller tells KNIA Sports the team concept of “we over me” really showed on the pitch.

“We had three different girls score goals, and I think we have a really strong team. We kept a really positive energy out there despite being down in the first 15 minutes. So I think this team is really going to grow together and set the expectation for Indianola girls soccer.”

Knoxville head coach Matt Ritchhart tells KNIA Sports despite the scoreline he felt his team played well, and is a great game to build off of early.

“These are the types of games we want to play against a bigger school in Indianola. We don’t want to go and play whoever and win 10-0, I mean we want to win but these games are the ones that will prepare you for later when you are on your playoff run. This team’s goal is to make state, so this will help us get better.”

The Indians improve to 1-0 and host Nevada on Friday, while the Panthers fall to 0-1 and don’t have much turnaround as they play Newton tonight on the road.