Panther soccer teams sweep Columbus/W-MU

COLUMBUS ­- Monday marked a successful road trip for the Mt. Pleasant soccer teams. The girls' team won their season-opener 2-1 over Columbus/W-MU, and the boys won their game 4-1.

The girls' team had to come back from a 1-0 deficit in the second half. Columbus/W-MU took the lead with just 30 minutes remaining in the game on a tap-in goal from Vanessa Mena off a Panther save. Mary West tied the game up 10 minutes later with her first goal of the year.

Mt. Pleasant kept the pressure on the Columbus/W-MU defense and with 10 minutes left, West netted her second goal of the game to give Mt. Pleasant the lead for good.

The Panther boys cruised to their third win in four games, and they did so with the help of a multi-goal first half from Nathan Rauenbuehler. He scored off an Ethan Oilar assist 12 minutes into the game and scored again later in the half off an assist from Cade Warner. Columbus/W-MU did net one goal in the first half, and it was 2-1 Panthers at the break.

Oscar Barriors opened the second half with a goal less than five minutes into the period. Warner had another assist on that score. Ovidio Reyes-Cardona scored a goal later in the second half off of Warner's third assist of the ballgame.

The Mt. Pleasant girls are 1-0 to start the season. They'll be at home on Thursday, April 4. The boys moved to 3-1 and will hit the road to take on Fairfield on Monday, April 8.