Soccer News — Page 18

Soccer final road test

May 12, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Lady Demons seek WAC title

John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

One game sits between the Dodge City High School girls soccer team and a Western Athletic Conference title.

The Red Demons (10-4-1, 6-1) will travel to Liberal in hopes of attaining a conference championship, which was the goal that sat at the top of the list for head coach Saul Hernandez’s team going into his first season at the helm.

Dodge City has played 14 games since its first meeting with Liberal this season. The two teams met in the season opener back in late March. The Red Demons cruised to a 4-1 victory after scoring three first half goals.

“We’re not going to take (Liberal) lightly,” Hernandez said. “We’re going to take this as serious as any other game.”

A front loaded WAC schedule put the Red Demons in a position where, to capture a conference title, they would have to win road games to finish off their season. After suffering their first conference loss to Hays last Thursday, Hernandez was happy with how his team responded in their 1-0 win at Garden City earlier this week.

“We’ve had to stay strong mentally,” Hernandez said. “I think the girls did a wonderful job bouncing back after that loss at Hays going to Garden City where it’s always tough to win. They stuck through it and they came out with a great attitude.”

Defense has been the key to the Red Demons climb to the top of the WAC standings. In their seven conference games this season they have conceded just six goals, three of which came in last Thursday’s loss to Hays.

“After the first few practices I knew that we were going to have a solid defense,” Hernandez said. “The tough part was going to be to get them to mesh together to play as a team.

That has been the biggest challenge but the girls have persevered. Now they are playing like a team. Now there is a togetherness that wasn’t there at the beginning of the season.”

Going into their final game of the regular season, the Red Demons are slated to host one game in regional play. With a win, Dodge City could put themselves in position to host two games in regional play if they were to advance.

Thursday’s game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in Liberal.

RED DEMON ROUNDUP

May 10, 2016 By DCHS Sports

RED DEMON ROUNDUP

John Zetmeir Dodge City Daily Globe

BOYS TENNIS

After winning their first Western Athletic Conference championship in 27 years, the Dodge City boys tennis team won their first regional title in program history.

On their way to the regional championship, the Red Demons qualified their entire team for the 6A state tournament. Senior Florian Kark beat fellow Red Demon Brett Groth 6-2, 6-3 to take first place in the individual bracket.

The doubles team of Angel Salmeron and Maans Spaangeang fell to Garden City’s Jose Depaz and Issac Silva in the doubles championship match. The second place finish still earned Salmeron and Spaangeang a trip Prairie Village for the state tournament.

Richard Rodriguez and Logan Waldman also qualified for state with their third place finish in the doubles bracket.

The Red Demons will make the 300 mile trek this weekend for the 6A state tournament.

GIRLS SOCCER

An overtime goal from Kasandra Herrera kept the Red Demons’ hopes for a Western Athletic Conference championship alive on Monday. Dodge City (10-4-1, 6-1) beat rival Garden City 1-0 for the second time this season.

The Red Demons will travel to Liberal on Thursday for their final game of the regular season. A win against the Redskins would secure at least a share of the WAC title.

GIRLS SWIMMING

On Thursday, the Dodge City girls swimming team won their first meet of the season with a team score of 554 points in Salina. It was the Red Demons highest score this season.

Junior Grace Harvey earned a state consideration time in the 100 meter backstroke. Fellow junior Hannah Sowers came just one second short of a consideration time in both the 50 and 100 meter freestyle.

Dodge City will travel to Garden City on Thursday to compete for the Western Athletic Conference championship.

RESULTS: 200 medley relay:

1st: A (Grace Harvey, Amelia Richter, Hayden Sanchez, Payton Magouirk) 7th: B (Camrynn Doussa, Ali Phelps, Skyler Childress, Jasmine Navarro)

200 free:

2nd: Gabby Mendoza 11th: Skyler Childress 12th: Zoe Shaw

200 IM:

1st: Amelia Richter 4th: Payton Magouirk 11th: Kristiaan Edwards

50 free:

1st: Hannah Sowers 11th: Sofia Arkell

100 Butterfly:

4th: Grace Harvey 5th: Hayden Sanchez 8th: Zoe Shaw

100 free:

1st: Hannah Sowers 3rd: Payton Magouirk 10th: Sofia Arkell

500 Freestyle:

2nd: Hayden Sanchez 5th: Jasmine Navarro 6th: Kameron Lowery

200 free relay:

1st: A (Hannah Sowers, Grace Harvey, Hayden Sanchez, Payton Magouirk) 7th: B (Gabby Mendoza, Suzy Arkell, Sofia Arkell, Kameron Lowery)

100 Backstroke:

2nd: Grace Harvey 1:09.72 10th: Camrynn Doussa 13th: Suzy Arkell

100 breaststroke:

2nd: Amelia Richter 4th: Gabby Mendoza 5th: Ali Phelps

400 Free Relay:

2nd: A (Hannah Sowers, Sofia Arkell, Gabby Mendoza, Amelia Richter) 7th: B (Jasmine Navarro, Kameron Lowery, Skyler Childress, Tatiana Arkell)

Demons draw with Aces on senior night

May 4, 2016 By DCHS Sports

By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe

A tie was not the ideal result for Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez but ultimately, the Red Demons’ 1-1 finish with Wichita East did not affect their goal of winning a Western Athletic Conference championship.

In their final home game of the regular season, the Red Demons (9-3-1, 5-0) were unable to score a winning goal after the Blue Aces tied the game with 20 minutes remaining in the second half.

“The difference was our girls weren’t communicating as much and (Wichita East’s) were,” Hernandez said. “Their touches were a little quicker than ours.”

Senior Aaliyah Reyes gave Dodge City a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the second half. She was one of five seniors who were honored after the game as part of senior night. Hernandez credited the small senior class for their leadership, particularly at the beginning of the season.

“I think them embracing my methods and the new coaching staff really set the tone for the year,” Hernandez said. “The other girls saw that they were buying into what we were trying to teach them and the other girls bought into it as well, so it made it a lot easier for us coaches.”

With less than thirty second to play in the game, sophomore goalkeeper Angie Ojeda made two saves to send the game into overtime. Ojeda made nine saves against the Blue Aces.

“These last two to three games she’s really stepped it up,” Hernandez said. “She’s playing for the team and she’s had her best games.”

Dodge City will begin the final stretch of their schedule starting on Thursday when they travel to Hays. The Red Demons sit in first place in the WAC standings but will play their final three conference games on the road.

“I think in these WAC games, we are going to step it up,” Hernandez said. “We’re going to have to step it up because Hays and Garden City know that if we beat them their title hopes are over.”

The Red Demons beat the Indians 2-1 in overtime when the two teams met back in April.

Red Demons hold off Panthers

April 29, 2016 By DCHS Sports

Red Demons hold off Panthers

By John Zetmeir

Dodge City Daily Globe

For the first 15 minutes of Thursday’s game, the Dodge City High School girls soccer team appeared ready to end their week with a big win against Great Bend. The Red Demons created nearly 10 goal scoring opportunities early on but struggled to capitalize.

Great Bend’s goalkeeper Ellie Anspaugh limited the damage early on but a costly miscue from the freshman turned into the game winning goal as Dodge City beat the Panthers 2-1.

The win kept the Red Demons (9-3, 5-0) at the top of the Western Athletic Conference standings.

With 32 minutes remaining in the second half, Anspaugh tried to keep the ball in play after making a save. The ball ended up at the feel of Dodge City’s Mariyah Reyes who converted the mistake into her 13th goal of the season.

“She earned that goal,” Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez said. “Some people might say that they gave it to us but (Reyes) had to make the run to be there.”

Junior Pamela Rosales gave Dodge City a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute of the game. It was the Red Demons fourth shot on goal in the first 10 minutes of the game. After the goal, the Panthers took control of the game for the rest of the first half.

Great Bend tied the game just four minutes into the second half when Diana Quiroz found the back of the net on a free kick.

“We slowed down again,” Hernandez said.“We have to learn to stay focused and to finish the game out and not to start relaxing that early on.”

The Red Demons will host Wichita East next Tuesday before finishing the season with three straight road games against WAC opponents.

Red Demons triumph over Trinity

April 20, 2016 By DCHS Sports

By John Zetmeir / Dodge City Daily Globe

The Dodge City High School girls soccer team has been tested from the very start this season. In their first six games, the Red Demon dropped close contests to Bishop Carroll, Derby and Thomas More Prep-Marian.

It was the experience from those games that prepared them for undefeated Wichita Trinity, the top ranked team in the 4-1A class by the Kansas Performance Index. On Tuesday the Red Demons beat the Knights 3-1.

In the 34th minute of the game sophomore Mariyah Reyes chipped a pass over a Trinity defender that landed at the feet of fellow sophomore Ariana Temblador who found the back of the net to give Dodge City a 1-0 lead.

For nearly 30 minutes, it looked like the Red Demons would have to hold on to the one goal advantage if they wanted to secure the win. What followed was a five-min

ute span of poor defending by Trinity that Dodge City capitalized on.

After a goal from Aneth Morales put the Red Demons up 2-0 with 17 minutes to play in the game, Reyes delivered the knock out blow in the 12th minute.

The Red Demons’ leading scorer took advantage of the rainy day when she challenged Trinity’s goalkeeper Alex Bearup with a shot from outside the penalty box. The ball slipped right through Bearup’s fingers and gave the Red Demons a 3-0 lead.

“She’s been scoring them from all over so why not shoot it,” Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez said. “I have confidence in her and with the conditions a little slip up like that can happen at any moment.

“Senior goalkeeper Angie Ojeda came up with two big saves late in the second half to secure the win for the Red Demons. A goal with a little more than eight minutes left in the game pushed the momentum back in the Knight’s favor. Trinity’s Ally Henderson came close to making it 3-2 with 6:32 to play in the game but Ojeda denied the junior midfielder of her second goal.

“That was a big block,” Hernandez said. “We didn’t clear the ball right and that’s what gave (Trinity) the opportunity but Angie was on her game today. She helped us get that win.”

After splitting their first six games of the season, Dodge City (6-3, 3-0) heads to Wichita Heights on Friday riding a three game winning streak.

“Now the girls know they are capable of and I think it’s going to help us in the long run,” Hernandez said. “Hopefully we don’t get too overconfident and just feed off of this and keep going.”

The Red Demon girls will return to Western Athletic Conference play next week when they open up a two-game home stand. Dodge City currently sits atop the WAC standings.