Third time that much sweeter; Buffs soccer moving on

Garden City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-Playoff soccer should serve as enough motivation. But how about playing your arch rival in a win-or-go-home scenario?

That’s exactly what played out at Buffalo Stadium on Monday afternoon, and thanks to a two-goal effort by Megan Martinez, the Lady Buffaloes are moving on-beating Dodge City 4-0 in the 6A regional semifinals.

“I felt like we really brought it today,” Martinez said after the match. “Being that it was our rivals, at home, pushed us even more.”

But it didn’t come easy. In fact the game remained scoreless for the first 28 minutes-that is until Evelyn Rodriguez scored off a corner kick.

“We were looking to open up the field more,” Rodriguez said. “Switching things up; seeing where we could find those open gaps.”

Martinez found plenty of them-scoring the Buffs second goal just eight minutes later. Tiffany Butler added a score in the final three minutes giving Garden City (11-6) a 3-0 lead at the half.

Martinez punctuated the scoring in the 44th minute-outracing two Dodge City defenders and angling a ball past Demons goal keeper Andrea Estrada.

“We try to spread them,” Head Coach Joaquin Padilla said. “They know how we play them and we know how they play us. It’s that simple.”

Dodge City out shot Garden City 11-6, but Buffs keeper Ashlee Richman was key-knocking away seven Demon shots.

Next up: Garden City vs. Manhattan/Wichita East winner-Thursday 6 p.m.

Postgame Interviews

Megan Martinez