| 1st | 2nd | OT | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hesston |
0
|
1
|
0
|
1
|
| Dodge City |
0
|
1
|
1
|
2
|
1st half: None
2nd half: 1 DC Eric Stocchero (unassisted); 1 HC Philip Hartzler (unassisted)
OT: 2 DC Julian Ramirez (assist Saul Hernandez)
Shots: HC 6 (2 SOG); DC 21 (8 SOG)
Saves: HC 6 Danny Yoder; DC 1 Shawn Warren
Coach's Summary: Another beautifully sunny day in Kansas and
our familiar friend – the wind – showed up after being absent
for so long. “We’ve really lucked out and had some nice weather
to play in this season so far (knock on wood). We haven’t had to
deal with the wind much. That is up until today.” The wind would
definitely play a factor in today’s match as Hesston traveled to
the old gun-slinging town of Dodge City to take on the Conquistadors.
The match started evenly with both
teams getting opportunities on goal. Mark Yoder had the best opportunity
in the first half for the Larks. Yoder collected the ball on the left
side of the box, dribbled across and drove the ball just past the right
upright. “We did a better job today of moving the ball around and
possessing the ball. Eric Bixler really did a nice job of helping us
possess the ball and move up the field. His play opened up opportunities
for other players like Mark.” The Conquistadors had their opportunities
as well but the half ended scoreless. “I was really pleased with
the first half. We were playing the ball to feet and giving ourselves
opportunities to attack rather than just hitting up to the forward and
hoping to attack. Interestingly enough we were doing it all while playing
into the wind.”
The second half started out well
for the Larks, but the play of Dodge City picked up as they found ways
to penetrate the Larks defense more often. But the fine play of goalkeeper
Danny Yoder kept the score knotted at zeros. Bixler had the Larks first
best opportunity to score as his hard work gave him the ball just inside
the eighteen. DC did well defensively to clear the ball over the end
line to keep the score even at 0–0. Midway through the second half
Dodge City broke the tie with a nice breakaway run by Erick Stocchero.
Stocchero managed to slip the ball past a sprawling Yoder. “Dodge
City was putting a lot of pressure on us and finally managed to slip
a nice ball past our defense. We kind of brought the pressure on ourselves
a bit by not playing better possession like we did in the first half.
We were just trying to go direct and against a good team like Dodge
it’s too hard to do. We didn’t make them play enough defense.”
Hesston’s best opportunities
in the second half were now coming on free kicks from outside the box.
Philip Hartzler put some very nicely driven balls into the box but the
Larks failed to connect on the other end. With five minutes to play
and another free kick from outside, Hartzler decided to take matters
into his own hands. From just inside the midfield line Hartzler unleashed
a booming free kick zipping over the keeper’s head and just under
the cross bar. “Wow, what a shot. It’s too bad that this game
wasn’t at home our fans would have exploded. We really needed that
because at the time we were really struggling to create anything in
the attacking half. It also did a lot to energize the team.”
A newly energized Hesston squad
finished regular time and went into overtime searching for their golden
goal. But it was the Conquistadors that would find the back of the net
as Julian Ramirez ripped a nice shot into the upper corner to capture
the win for DC. “Dodge City really did pick up their play. It’s
unfortunate to lose another overtime game but we are seeing improvement.
We still have a lot of games to play and if we can keep improving we’ll
be fine.”
The Larks next play a homecoming
match against Region VI opponent Neosho County Community College at
3 p.m. at home.