Dodge City scores four to beat Liberal
By John Zetmeir
Dodge City Daily Globe
Starting the 2016 season off with a Western Athletic Conference opponent was not ideal for Dodge City head coach Saul Hernandez. Fortunately for the Red Demons’ conference championship hopes, his team was ready to play.
The Red Demon girls soccer team beat the Liberal Redskins 4-1 on Thursday afternoon in their season opener.
“They did their jobs,” Hernandez said. “Getting that first win, especially a WAC win, feels really good.”
It was a pair of sophomores who took care of the scoring load for Dodge City on Thursday. Mariyah Reyes and Ariana Temblador both found the back of the net twice.
Reyes scored the Red Demons’ first goal of the year when she dribbled around Liberal goalkeeper Reyna Gonzalez to put her team on the board less than four minutes into the season.
The sophomore forward notched her second goal of the day 14 minutes later when she made the most of a Liberal yellow card. Reyes capitalized on a Red Demon free kick from 21 yards out.
Temblador chipped the ball over Gonzalez with just under 12 minutes to play in the first half to give Dodge City a 3-0 lead going into the halftime break.
“I’ve been emphasizing transitioning,” Hernandez said. “Most of the goals come, not off of possession, but by stealing the ball and going to goal. So they did really well. The transitioning was excellent. We probably should’ve finished more goals in the second half but I’m happy with the four goals.”
The Red Demons will travel to Wichita on Monday for the first round of the Titan Classic at Wichita South High School. Hernandez believes that he will learn a lot about his team next week as they compete in one of the state’s toughest tournaments.
“I think 
(the Titan Classic) is going to help us,” Hernandez said. “Especially playing against the quality of teams that we’ll play. We’re going to see what level we’re really at and that’s when we’re going to see what adjustments we need to make.”
