BUFFS’ BOYS SOCCER: Friday, Sept. 18, 2020
Garden City High School’s boys soccer team hit the road Thursday for a Western Athletic Conference match-up with Liberal’s Redskins only to return home after suffering a tough, 4-3, setback to the home team.
The Buffs saw their season record slip to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the WAC. They were coming off a 10-0 victory on Tuesday at home against TMP-Hays. The Buffs will return to WAC action on Tuesday, Sept. 22, with a match at rival Dodge City with a scheduled pitch for 5 p.m.
Liberal opened the scoring in the 15th minute on a goal by Erick Ortiz only to have the Buffs answer with Rodrigo Oropeza’s goal when he took an assist from Emiliano Garcia on a set piece. But Liberal bounced back with a go-ahead goal in the 26th minute on a goal by Yahir Salazar. That left the halftime score at 2-1 with Liberal in front.
In the second half, Liberal got a penalty kick goal in the 46th minute by AJ Ramirez to put the Redskins up 3-1. Bryant Tamayo rifled in a long shot from 27 yards away in the 50th minute to trim the deficit to 3-2. Ortiz then scored his second goal of the game for Liberal in the 56th minute to produce a two-goal advantage.
The Buffs’ Oropeza nailed his second goal of the match in the 66th minute on a long shot from 30 yards away. But the Buffs couldn’t get the game-tying goal in the remaining 14 minutes to come up short.
Garden City finished the match with 12 shots while Liberal managed only 7, but made good on 4 of those. Damien Zaparipa was in goal for the Buffs, recording 5 saves. Liberal’s keeper had 7 saves.
Garden City High School 