Soccer Game Report
Hesston vs. Dodge City, Oct. 22, 2002, Dodge City

Hesston’s goal scored by Arsene Tshidimu. Assisted by Nathan Wood.

Coach's Comments--
      Hesston begins a busy week where the Larks will play four games in seven days. Today’s opponent Dodge City beat the Larks earlier in the season at Hesston 3-1. Their last meeting saw many unusual things. That was the game Kyle Beun injured his shoulder on a collision with an attacker going hard after a ball in the box. Jared Coblentz received his first red card ever. And Troy Stutzman had to leave the field in the last 10 minutes because the ref didn’t like his shin guards. More importantly though it was a close hard fought game by both teams in which either team could have won. Really the last time we played Dodge we gave them two goals. Had we played better defensively we probably would have come out of that game with at least a tie. Today’s game was one the Larks have been looking forward to ever since the last meeting.
      Dodge broke open the scoring early in the game – about 10 minutes in – when Dodge capitalized on Hesston’s inability to clear the ball. It was a matter of letting them have it too long too deep in our area. Their forward then made a nice pass into the middle which they simply finished off close to the goal. Hesston rebounded quickly though. The Larks were awarded a free kick 45 yards out. Arsene Tshidimu headed in a beautifully driven ball by Nathan Wood down and off the post to tie the game at 1-1 just two minutes later. Nathan’s kick was perfectly placed with just enough pace for Arsene to head the ball down and in. Arsene did really well to time his jump. You can’t draw it up any nicer. I was really proud of our guys to bounce back so quickly after their goal. You could see the intensity in our team pick up a couple of notches after we scored.
      Both teams fought hard for the remainder of the game but neither team was able to find the back of the net. Dodge City clearly had more chances but was unable to put many shots on goal. The few opportunities that they did have were squashed quickly by the superb goal tending of Danny Yoder. Danny had a fantastic game. He really has played well since Kyle’s (Beun) injury. He really has proven himself to me and to his teammates. Several opposing coaches, including coaches from Dodge City and Barton, have commented on his outstanding play.
      Overall I’m very pleased with the way we played. We were a bit shaky at times defensively as a team, but we still only allowed the one goal. As tired as the guys were in overtime they really gutted it out. Many of the players played the full 110 minutes. Mark Yoder and Craig Mast played the entire game as outside midfielders and played well. That’s a tough position to play for 90 minutes let alone 110 minutes. Really everyone played a solid game. And the good news is that I think we could have played better.
      The Larks play Cloud County on Thursday at 3 p.m. before heading to Kansas City to play Kansas City Kansas Community College on Saturday at 2 p.m. Hesston will play at Johnson County on Monday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. to start the regional playoffs. The Larks record is 4-10-1.