Dodge City 1 Garden City 0
As they say in theatre, “You never know what to expect on Opening Night”!
Three weeks into the 2022 soccer season and the Red Demons had yet to play a home soccer match at Memorial Stadium. The Red Demons had already collected six wins and their eighth Titan Classic championship before Tuesday night’s opening act at home.
The Red Demons seemed to mount their offensive arsenal on the Buffs from the very first kick – a long ball that was carried by the wind just past a streaking Aron Martinez. The home team possessed the ball for much of the first half, but Garden City goalie, Aidan Parra, continued to turn back the Red Demons with several outstanding saves.
Photo: Melissa Espinoza
The deadlock was finally broken early in the second half when Aron Martinez launched a shot toward the goal that rebounded back to Ernesto Monge, who tapped it in for a one-nil lead that the Demons would not relinquish.
“We kept encouraging our guys to keep firing – and Ernesto did an outstanding job of not giving up on the play. Our guys don’t care who gets the credit, they are focused on doing their jobs and know good things happen when you continue to attack,” said Coach Saul Hernandez.
The Buffs would not go quietly on a night that seemed to be all about the home team. Another outstanding save by Parra on a penalty kick seemed to inject the visitors with new life and the final ten minutes were a flurry of action. A save by Francisco Solis in the final five minutes on the only solid scoring opportunity on the night by the Buffs preserved the Red Demon victory by the slimmest of margins.
Coach Hernandez said he was pleased overall with his team’s performance, but acknowledged it was good to get all of the festivities out of the way in the pursuit of bigger goals that await his team.
“Opening night is a myriad of emotions. We love our home crowd and atmosphere. It is like nowhere else we go – and our kids love playing at Memorial Stadium. It is also good to get past that first game at home and refocus on getting back to business as our schedule continues to get tougher in the second half of the season.“
With the victory, the Red Demons move to 7-0, and 3-0 in WAC play. Dodge City travels to Great Bend on Thursday to finish up the first half of the season and first round of WAC play. The next home action for the soccer program is Tuesday night as they step out of WAC play to take on Wichita Trinity, who defeated Great Bend at home last Saturday. Dodge City defeated Trinity last year by a score of two-nil in a well-played contest in Wichita.
