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Defense first

Published 8/14/2007 in Sports By Joey Sprinkle

As the temperature slowly climbed to a baking 104 degrees Saturday, Garden City Community College men's soccer head coach Stephen Gorton drilled his players like a man on a mission.

He matched them up for 2-on-2 defensive drills, followed by a minute long water break. Then back to 2-on-2 defense. More water. Then 5-on-5 defensive drills. Water. Defensive drills.

Could there be a pattern here?

"We're really focusing on team defense right now," Gorton said. "Our defense was fine last year, but we don't want to have individuals that are good on defense. We need to have good defense as a team."

After starting preseason practices on Friday, the Broncbusters look primed to continue their recent success after making it to the semifinals in the Region IV tournament last year. In the program's third season since being re-established in 2005, the Busters have gone 20-12-3 including a 12-3-1 finish in 2005.

One of the biggest keys to Garden City's 2007 campaign is Gorton, who enters his first year as head coach after serving as associate head-coach under Jeff Huffman. Before coming to GCCC, Gorton was an all-star defender at Western Illinois University and played professionally with the Tampa Bay Chill of the United Soccer Leagues' Premier Development League.

Despite Gorton's defensive background, the Broncbusters look to continue their offensive dominance with a style of play designed to split the defense with through passes out of the midfield.

Forward Javier Jiminez returns this year to bolster the offense after leading the team in scoring last season. Instead of becoming complacent, Jiminez has set the bar even higher this year as the Broncbusters look to put up an overwhelming amount of goals on their opponents.

"I scored nine last year," said Jiminez with a grin. "But this year I'm going to score 30."

One of the players feeding Jiminez the ball from the midfield will be Kuwaiti international Tareq Al-Lugman. After playing for Kuwait's U-17 national squad, Al-Lugman comes to Garden City with the potential to be one of the most explosive players in the region.

"Tareq is a big-time player," said Gorton in his roster evaluation of Al-Lugman. "You know that when a player has represented his country at the youth level that you're getting a player that can do things that other junior college players cannot."

Al-Lugman's success for the Broncbusters this season, however, depends on how fast he can adjust to the American style of play.

"Yeah its different," Al-Lugman said. "Over (in Asia) its all about speed and dribbling. It's more about passing over here."

With a ton of explosive talent at his disposal, Gorton plans on going to midfield-heavy formation to punch the ball through to the strikers. Yet, while Garden City should be a potent scoring machine next season, Gorton still hopes to use his experience as a former player to improve the squad's defensive play.

"We think we're good enough offensively to be one of the best teams out there," he said. "What we need to improve on is team defense."

While defender Justyn Safar returns with the raw ability to be one of the region's best next season, Gorton continues to drive home the concept of team defense in his practices. Players participate in drills that involve sharpening on-field communication and making sure that opponents stay marked.

"The defense looks pretty good in practice," Jiminez said. "We just have to get out there and try it in a real game."

The Broncbusters will have the opportunity on Aug. 24 when they travel to Salina to take on Kansas Wesleyan University. They open their home schedule two days later with a match-up against Dodge City Community College amidst free food and revelry at Memorial Stadium.

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