CARY — A month ago, Panther Creek and Athens Drive battled to the buzzer before the Catamounts grabbed the victory on the only goal of the game with just two ticks left on the clock. Wednesday night, Panther Creek was able to duplicate the 1-0 win in front of its home crowd — only this time without quite the same level of drama.

After playing scoreless and somewhat even for the first 36 minutes, the Catamounts (11-7-2, 8-4) found a couple of openings near the net but sent the ball sailing wide right twice in a two minute span. They continued the pressure and with 1:37 left in the first half got the break they needed.

As Panther Creek sophomore midfielder Bailee Johnston and Jaguars freshman forward Emily Newsom fought for possession of the ball deep in Athens territory, Newsom was whistled for a foul in the box. This set up senior forward Alyssa Bearden’s attempt at a penalty shot, which she calmly converted.

“We played the ball wide to try and open it up for a shot,” Bearden said. “Bailee really worked her butt off to get to the ball and get that penalty. And I’m used to taking penalty kicks. I’ve taken plenty of them. I just went up there and did it.”

Besides being the game winner, the goal was a special one for Bearden, a College of Charleston signee, given that it happened on the Catamount’s Senior Night.

“It’s awesome to go out with a bang,” she said. “It meant a lot to me to score the winning goal.”

Panther Creek coach Todd Schuler called Bearden’s clincher a “fitting” way for his team’s home schedule to end.

“We’ve got three seniors and they’re all great kids,” he said. “Alyssa is our leading scorer. We count on her to score big goals for us. I’m glad it turned out the way it did.”

The second half was much like the final few minutes of the first — only without any scoring. The Catamounts dominated ball possession and occupied Athens’ side of the field for most of the period, out-shooting the Jags 8-0.

“We controlled the tempo of the game,” Schuler said. “We possessed the ball well. I wish we’d have had a little more of a sense of urgency around the net, but we did some good things with the ball.”

For the game, Panther Creek’s offense generated 17 shots on goal compared to just two for Athens (7-6-1, 6-5) — both of which came in the first 30 minutes. Jags’ coach Travis Seese was critical of his team’s lack of responsibility with the ball, but placed part of the blame for its inability to produce offensively on being undermanned.

Athens was without two seniors for the game – Erin Haddon with a concussion and Katie Durst with mono.

“Because of those injuries we had some people playing out of position,” Seese said. “And Katie really controls the ball possession for us. We were rough with our possession. We usually do a better job with the ball."

“We played their game, not ours.”