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By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Managing Editor

PELHAM – Following a Lakeshore Championship from the boys a week earlier, the Pelham girls soccer team wanted to prove it had what it took to bring home a title as well.

But the Panthers took it a step further than that and finished the tournament with a perfect record of 4-0 to take home the title.

Playing on their home turf, Pelham kicked off the tournament on Friday, Feb. 21, with a matchup against Fultondale.

It what became a dominant offensive weekend for the Panthers, they kick started the event with a six-goal performance, while only giving up one goal for a 6-1 win and a 1-0 start in the tournament.

That dominant offensive performance set the tone for Pelham, who went on to post a combined 17 goals over the weekend, while allowing just two goals.

Following that win over Fultondale, Pelham’s confidence grew and it showed in the second game that night against Hazel Green. The Panthers went out and picked up their first of two consecutive shutouts by downing the Trojans 3-0.

Through two matches, that already put Pelham’s goal total at nine, which put them in great shape to win the title going into the Saturday portion of the tournament.

Following the late finish the night before, the Panthers came back at 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning for a matchup against Susan B. Moore.

Despite the early wakeup call, Pelham put together arguably its most dominant performance of the weekend. The Panthers scored five more goals and gave up none.

That set them up in the championship matchup against Oxford, who had gone 3-0 in the tournament to that point as well.

The difference between the two teams was Pelham’s 14 goals compared to Oxford’s five goals.

Both, however, were playing strong defense with the Panthers’ one goal being the only one given up through the first three games between the two teams.

But Pelham’s offense was on fire the entire weekend, and that continued into the championship match. It became too much of an obstacle for the Yellow Jackets to overcome, as the Panthers were able to post three goals and hold Oxford’s offense to just one goal for a 3-1 win and the Bronze Division Championship.

With that win, the Panthers completed a perfect 4-0 record in less than 24 hours and improved to 6-0 overall on the season.