BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

Garden City escaped with a hard-fought 2-1 Western Athletic soccer victory when Great Bend's potential game-tying goal was waved off when offsides was called. 

Garden City's athletic Jefferson Meltez converted his second goal (54:10) off a Jael Espinosa free kick for the game-winner.

"They called offside on our last pass on our breakaway," said Great Bend coach Chuy Loera. "That's why the goal was taken back. We'll check and see whether we were in the right spot and adjust one step. It's good to see our guys be aggressive. We relied on our counter-attack. They'd make a mistake and we countered quickly. It worked."

Panther Alex Alonzo provided a spectacular goal that sidelined Garden City goalie Jorge Barahona-Lopez with an injury after a collision. Panther Rafael Chavez directed a free kick that Alonzo shot into the goal for a 1-1 tie (42:49) just after halftime.

Panther defenders Luis Gonzalez, Diego Soto, Eman Rodriguez and Julian Ordonez keyed a stout defensive effort. Gonzalez prevented a goal by blocking a shot. Jackson Young keyed the defense by directing the ball away from Contreras.

"I'm proud of the guys," Loera said. "That was our most complete game in every aspect — offense, defense and winning second balls. We did everything that we wanted except get the result we wanted. We had good offensive looks and didn't finish."

Great Bend soccer goalie Eli Contreras played brilliantly as usual. 

"Eli played fantastic in the goal and kept us in the ballgame," Loera said. "I liked where we are at today."

Contreras liked how the Panthers (2-10, 0-6 WAC) competed against Garden City (4-8-1, 3-3-1 WAC).

"This season, overall this was one of our best games," he said. "Against a tough team like Garden City, we played well. Defensively, we played really well. All-around, we played strong. We had some good offensive looks.

The Buffaloes (4-8-1, 3-3-1 WAC) relied on Isaac Perez-Avitia, Meltez and Diego Padilla to pressure the Panthers. Panthers Alonzo and Alex Alcala kept Great Bend within striking distance with crisp offensive play.

WESTERN ATHLETIC

Dodge City 6-0 12-0

Liberal 3-1-1 9-1-1

Garden City 3-3-1 4-8-1

Hays High 2-3 6-7

Great Bend 0-6 2-10

10-8—Garden City 2, Great Bend 1; Dodge City 11, Hesston 0

10-10—Garden City 2, Great Bend 1; Liberal 11, Hesston 0; Hays 4, Junction City 0; Dodge City 2, Wichita Carroll 0

10-15—Great Bend at Dodge City; Liberal at Hays; Garden City at Wichita West