Liberal upends Garden’s WAC title hopes
Garden City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-Through the first 67 minutes on Tuesday, Liberal had one goal in mind: smother Buffs star Eric Barragan. It worked more so than not.
The Redskins took four shots in the first half-scoring on two of them, and the Redskins held off a furious surge late to beat Garden City 2-1 at Buffalo Stadium.
“We had our opportunities,” Head Coach Joaquin Padilla said afterwards. “We had so many shots that we didn’t convert.
18 of them in fact as Garden City out shot Liberal 18-4. Yet, quality outlasted quantity on this day.
Trailing 2-0 with under 12 minutes to play, the Buffaloes (7-3, 3-3) finally caught a break. As barragan cut to his left inside the Liberal box, he was cut down from behind and awarded a penalty kick. The senior converted-pulling Garden City to within a goal. But the play epitomized a day where the Redskins sent three; sometimes four different defenders at Barragan.
“We needed someone else to step up,” Padilla said.
Barragan had a chance to tie the score late. With under 30 seconds to play, the senior weaved through traffic, only to lose possession near the Redskins’ box and watched as precious time came off the clock. Garden City fumbled away a couple of chances in the final 15 seconds-handing Liberal a season sweep.
“I was hoping the outcome would be different this time around,” Padilla said. “But we still have to get ourselves ready for the playoffs.”
Next up: Garden City at Great Bend-Thursday, October 9-5:30 p.m.
Other Scores
Dodge City 5, Hays 0
