Dodge City beats Garden City 3-1, gets third straight conference win
By: Shelton Burch
Courtesy of Dodge City Globe Staff Writer
The Dodge City Red Demons soccer team beat conference rival Garden City 3-1 Tuesday night.
The win moved the team to 3-0 against Western Athletic Conference foes.
The Red Demons have outscored their first three conference opponents; Hays, Liberal, and Garden City, by a combined score of 14-2.
Senior Omar Estrada opened the scoring in the first half, scoring his third goal of the season. Later on, junior Alexis Alvarez notched his third goal of the season as well, making the game 2-0 in favor of Dodge City. Estrada got one more before the end of the half, giving him four total so far this season, making the score 3-0 in favor of Dodge City at halftime.
Estrada’s and Alvarez’s were a break from the usual high-scorers for the Red Demons, such as senior Mario Martinez and senior Joshua Don Juan. Don Juan said he was OK with that.
“That’s how I’ve always been raised,” Don Juan said. “It’s all about the team scoring.”
The 3-1 win was the narrowest margin of victory the team has had against a conference opponent so far this season.
“It was not the score we wanted but it was something to give to the fans and to our teammates,” Don Juan said. “Hopefully the next time we come at home, it will be a lot better.
In the second half, Garden City’s Eric Alvarez took a pass crossing the front of the Red Demons’ net and scored the game’s lone goal for his team, as well as the game’s final goal.
Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez said the score reflected the way the team came out strong in the first half.
“(In the) first half we controlled the game I thought,” Hernandez said. “We were playing
the feed, we were making them move and we got good opportunities on goal and that reflected on the scoreline going into half(time) 3-0. (In the) second half, it’s tougher going into the wind. Garden City picked it up and we had to match their intensity, and there for a while they had us on our back-foot.”
The contributions by Estrada and Alvarez were helpful from a coaching- perspective as well, Hernandez said.
“If it’s not one guy, it’s gonna be another guy,” Hernandez said. “Throughout the season
we’ve had Alan (Lopez) step up, we’ve had Josue (Castillo) we’ve had Diego (Olivares) step up. So we’ve got all-around and it’s gonna be tough for all six of those guys to have an off-day. So I know one of em’s gonna have a good day.”
Dodge City will look to start 4-0 in WAC play this season when the team takes on Great Bend at 4:30 p.m. Friday in Great Bend, Kansas.
