The Garden City Telegram
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LATEST NEWS: Broncbuster soccer defeats Allen County, heads to finals
Published 11/1/2008 in Sports : GCCC
By BRETT MARSHALL
TOPEKA -- When the Garden City Broncbusters men's soccer team faces Allen County, it usually expects a rough-and-tumble, physical game.
When the teams met here Saturday afternoon at the Hummer Sports Park, in the Region VI semifinals, coach Steve Gorton's players got just what they anticipated.
The result was a hard-fought 3-2 victory that sends the No. 7-ranked Busters (17-1-1) into Sunday's championship game against Western Division rival Barton County, a team GCCC tied 1-1 earlier in the season that is ranked No. 2 nationally.
If the Busters win Sunday, they will play host to the Wyoming-Missouri Bi-Region champion next Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Garden City.
"I thought we came out strong and played well early," Gorton said of his team, which produced a 2-0 lead at halftime.
After that, though, it was a virtual dog fight to the finish. Allen County had two red-card penalties, one just before intermission and the second at the 39:42 mark of the second half. Despite that, Allen managed to take advantage of two infractions to score two penalty kicks against the Busters.The first came at the 29:46 mark to slice the GCCC lead to 2-1.
The Busters responded at the 13:51 mark with a Mario Ojeda goal, scored with a head shot off a corner kick. That would prove to be the winning goal.
Allen County got its final tally on a unimpeded penalty kick with 10:27 remaining in the game, and then the Busters managed to work their defensive strategy and keep the ball moving, attacking some, but not scoring. Allen County, though, did not have any serious shots on goal in the final minutes.
"We're excited to be in the championship game," Gorton said. "This is what we've worked for. I think at times our guys thought they were already there (after the first half), but we hung in and did what we needed to do. A 2-0 lead is always the toughest one to hold in soccer. I think the guys just got a little relaxed. Barton is a terrific team and I think we're right there with them, so I expect a tough game tomorrow."
See Monday's Telegram for further coverage of GCCC Broncbusters soccer.
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