By RANDY GONZALES

Hays Daily News

HAYS -- For much of the first half, the Hays High School girls' soccer team, behind its inspired play, appeared poised to win Thursday's conference showdown with Garden City.

The Indians outshot the Buffaloes in the first half and took more corner kicks. Hays High made beautiful runs and executed give-and-go passes.

An early goal gave HHS the lead, and the Indians threatened to score on numerous other occasions while blanketing Garden City's star striker, junior Cindy Benitez.

But Hays High's focus on Benitez allowed Buffs freshman Mari Ruvalcaba open space. Ruvalcaba scored the equalizer and go-ahead goal in Garden City's 3-1 victory at the HHS field.

"Garden City has a lot of speed up front with those two girls," Hays High coach Chris Michaelis said of Benitez and Ruvalcaba. "We had trouble with that defensively."

Garden City improved to 10-3 overall and 6-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. Hays High dropped to 8-3 overall and 5-2 in conference play. Both of the Indians' losses have been to Garden City.

Garden City appeared stunned by Hays High's furious start to the match.

"Before the game -- the whole week -- we were prepared for this game," Dreiling said.

Before Dreiling's goal, the Indians had a good scoring opportunity in the second minute on a long punt by Indian senior goalkeeper Lindsey Dinkel. Carried by the breeze, the ball took a high bounce in Garden City territory and junior Elisha Schultz found space behind the Buffs' defense, only to have the ball smothered by freshman keeper Traci Martinez, who came off her line.

Hays High broke through in the ninth minute when junior forward Kelsey Hedlund got the ball to Dreiling in front of the goal. Dreiling jumped and volleyed the ball past Martinez for the game's first goal. It was Dreiling's fifth goal of the year and she has scored in three straight games.

The Indians continued to press the attack, much to the dismay of Garden City coach Joaquin Padilla.

"We expected this, because one of their only losses was to us," Padilla said. "I think we didn't have any energy" early in the match.

Michaelis was pleased with what he saw, especially the early goal.

"First half, we really came out and played well," Michaelis said. "We got off to a good start."

Hays High couldn't protect that one-goal lead for long. Ruvalcaba took advantage of a misplayed ball by the HHS back line to find open space in the penalty area, sending a shot past Dinkel to score in the 20th minute.

Ruvalcaba didn't need a defensive breakdown to give the Buffs the lead early in the second half. She beat Dinkel high to the near post from the right side of the box in the 45th minute.

Ruvalcaba finished with seven shots on goal, including all four of the Buffs' shots in the first half.

Padilla wanted Benitz, who entered the match with 26 goals on the season and 106 for her career, to look for her teammates when she was being closely marked by the HHS defense.

"We knew if they would double-team on Cindy, she would be open," Padilla said of Ruvalcaba. "She's a ninth-grader, people don't know too much about her."

Benitez, who was marked by HHS junior defender Jennifer David for most of the match, got off just one shot on goal, an easy save by Dinkel.

While HHS had seven shots on goal in the first half, the Indians had one shot on net in the second half. Instead of HHS getting the equalizer, Garden City made it a two-goal game when sophomore Diana Alcantara scored on a hard shot over Dinkel's head from the top of the box in the 61st.

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Garden City 3, Hays High 1

Garden City (10-3, 6-0) 1 2 -- 3

Hays High (8-3, 5-2) 1 0 -- 1

First half

Hays High -- Dreiling (Hedlund), 9th minute.

Garden City -- Ruvalcaba, 20th minute.

Second half

Garden City -- Ruvalcaba, 45th minute.

Garden City -- D. Alcantara, 61st minute.

Goalkeepers -- T. Martinez, Garden City; Dinkel, Hays High. Saves -- T. Martinez; 7, Dinkel, 6.