1st | 2nd | Final | |
Dodge City |
1
|
2
|
3
|
Hesston |
0
|
1
|
1
|
Hesstons goal scored by Andy Krabill (assist by Craig Mast)
Coach's Comments--
A beautiful night, a great Homecoming
crowd, and great effort by both teams made for a very close and exciting
game. The crowd really got into this one. It was a great atmosphere
for our players to play in. Play went back and forth with nice plays
by both sides to start the game. Hesston was struck a bad blow when
the Larks keeper, Kyle Beun, was injured coming out to stop a dangerous
50/50 ball in the box. Kyle collided with their forward and hurt his
shoulder. It was just a case of two players going hard after the ball.
(Kyle came off on his own power and was taken to the emergency room
for x-rays, which turned up negative. Apparently he just strained some
ligaments in his shoulder and will just need some ice, Ibuprofen, and
time to recover which hopefully wont be too long.) Danny Yoder
took over for Beun in goal. Danny is a solid goal-keeper we have total
confidence in him. He did a great job in goal for us.
Dodge broke the deadlock with just
under two minutes remaining in the game. Our guys were doing a great
job for 40 minutes offensively and defensively. We did an outstanding
job of moving the ball around. Unfortunately the half is 45 minutes
long. We looked a little tired for those last 5 minutes and they capitalized
on a defensive error. One defensive error one goal.
The break in play was just what
Hesston needed as their energy seemed to come back and the effort was
back up to full speed. Play again went back and forth. Hesston came
very close to getting the equalizer when sophomore midfielder Troy Stutzman
got behind Dodges defense for a golden opportunity on goal. However,
an outstanding play by Dodges center back and keeper denied the
equalizer.
Several minutes later it looked
like Hesston would get a little help from the other team. A silly retaliation
by DC resulted in an ejection to give Hesston a man advantage. Our guys
were clearly thinking that this would put us over the edge but I was
worried. It happens all the time in soccer when the team with the man
down actually gains the momentum because they know they have to play
that much harder. My fears were quickly realized a few minutes later.
Dodge capitalized on another defensive miscue. A poorly played ball
out of the back bounced off a DC striker that led to the same player
getting on the breakaway. DCs Arselmo Enriquez made the most of
his good fortune and slipped a nice shot by a diving Danny Yoder with
25 minutes remaining in the contest. At this point our guys could have
let down but to their credit they didnt.Hesstons determination
was clear as they picked themselves up and kept coming.
The more time that ran off the clock
the more the table turned in favor of Hesston. Andy Krabill finally
got the Larks on the board as he beat DCs last defender and pounded
the ball from 15 yards out past the Conquistadors helpless keeper. We
really needed that goal. It was well deserved too. We really were doing
a great job getting the ball to the final third of the field but just
struggled to finish in the final third
until then. Then the energy
level went up one more notch. You could tell that they guys really started
to believed that we could come back and win the game.
Hesston seemed to have all the momentum
until an unfortunate call by the referee equalized the player numbers.
Freshman midfielder Jared Coblentz was ejected for a dangerous foul.
Were still trying to figure out what Jared did. Ill have
to look at the tape tonight because it didnt really look like
Jared did anything and I was only 15 yards from where the foul happened.
Im not sure that it even deserved a yellow card but like I said
Ill have to watch the tape. Things turned from bad to worse for
Hesston when Troy Stutzman was told by the center ref to step off the
field because of illegal shin guards. This was a baffling decision by
the ref. I know that at the high school level the shin guards are a
big deal but at the college level its just not. It was very questionable
to make our player come off the field with just 10 minutes left in the
game for something so minor in my opinion. With things heating up one
more player from each side was given a yellow card and many whistles
seemed to slow the game down. Our guys were putting so much effort into
the game. But with what happened with Troy and Jared, I think our players
started focusing more on the refs than on playing the game. Not completely
but just enough to kill our momentum.
With only seven minutes left in
the game, DC sealed the game by heading in the third goal off a corner
kick. The Larks to their credit still came down and managed to create
some opportunities but came up short each time. With time winding down,
DC had one last dangerous shot on goal but Yoder made a fantastic diving
save to his left on a shot from the top of the box to keep the score
3-1. I was really proud of our guys they really battled hard. Even though
we lost again, it was clearly the best game weve played so far.
If not for a couple of defensive lapses and had we had just a few more
good shots on goal we clearly could have beaten this team. I really
dont think that theyre two goals better than us. Its
too bad that our players are going to probably remember the refereeing.
The truth of the matter is that we didnt lose because of the referees.
It was a well-played game by both sides. They just came away with the
w
this time. Well get another crack at them at
the end of October on their field.
Hesstons record drops to 2-7
for the season. The Larks next contest is scheduled for Wed October
2 at home against Region VI powerhouse Cloud County Community College.