Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, KAN. – Sunday afternoon the Seward County Saints men’s soccer team took to the turf in Liberal, Kansas at Redskin Field to take on conference rival Dodge City in a big KJCCC matchup where Seward County was able to extend their win streak to three as they were able to knock off the Conquistadors with a 2-1 victory.
After falling to Dodge City earlier this season, the Saints were looking for some payback against their conference rivals and were able to do just that behind Javier Ruchelli Alvarez who was able to find a path down the field off an assist from Alexander Stevens-Lee to take a shot that landed dead center into the opposing goal to take a 1-0 lead at the 32:00 minute mark of the first half. From there the momentum was in favor of the Green and White as they held the Conqs at bay through the first half and was able to once again drive down field as Francisco Nava-Gomez made a run of his own and took such a powerful shot it bounced off the defender’s outreached hands and into the goal to go up 2-0 heading into halftime.
The second half was a defensive minded battle between SCCC and DC3 with goalkeeper Bruno Mestres fighting tooth and nail to hold the Conqs at bay with multiple crucial saves including a one-on-one matchup that was read just right to knock the ball out of bounds and maintain a 2-0 lead. Seward County’s defense held strong, and all things pointed to a shutout victory for the Saints until a late penalty with 44 seconds left gave Dodge City a PK that they connected on to put themselves on the board as a consolation prize before time ran out as Seward County gained the 2-1 win over their conference rival.
The Saints now improve to 8-6-2 overall in their inaugural season with a 3-6-1 record in conference action. They will take the next week off to rest and prepare for a big KJCCC matchup against Coffeyville this Saturday in a 6:00 PM kickoff.