South girls soccer improving with each game

The season didn’t start off all that well for the Nashua High School South girls soccer team.

The Panthers opened the year with back-to-back one-goal losses to Keene and Concord, respectively, games that in retrospect, South would probably like to be able to do over again.

But since those loses, the Panthers have gone 5-1 and are in position to claim a top eight seed in Division I, starting with Tuesday’s game at Timberlane (6-1-1).

“We lost 1-0 and 2-1 and we are improving,” South coach Manfred Beyer said of those first two games. “I’ve got five freshmen on the varsity. One of them starts, one comes in and gets a lot of playing time. They’re getting to work better with each other. We work a lot on technical skills and you can see where it’s starting to pay off.”

South bounced back from a 1-0 loss to Pinkerton (6-1-1) on Sept. 15 by winning both of its games last week. The Panthers held on for a 1-0 win over Division II Souhegan, and exploded for a 7-0 win over Alvirne.

While the win over Alvirne was big – the Panthes got an extra point for a road win – beating Souhegan was a confidence booster.

“We knew we were playing against a quality team, and we had to play 80 minutes of soccer, high intensity, to put this game away,” Beyer said. “You can never afford to take your foot off the pedal, especially against a quality team. This game is going to benefit us.”

South still has some tough games left on the schedule – at Timberlane, Londonderry (8-0), Exeter (7-1) – but the Panthers also still have some winnable games against Merrimack (1-7), Nashua North (1-6-1) and Dover (3-5).  If South wins the games it should, it would likely end up with a home playoff game in the opening round.

“Now all we have to do is keep building,” Beyer said. “We’re getting better and that’s what you want to do. You want to improve with every game and every practice.”