Monarch soccer falls to Dodge City
By RANDY GONZALES
Sweat was dripping from Nathan Lawson's face. Grass stains were on his jersey. A scab was ripped open on his elbow.
Lawson, like his Monarch teammates, was bloodied but unbowed after Tuesday's boys' soccer match between Thomas More Prep-Marian and Dodge City.
"My expectation is we play hard, no matter what," said Lawson, a junior defender.
Dodge City took an early lead, then TMP-Marian gave no ground in the second half in an eventual 4-1 win by the Red Demons at TMP field,
"Dodge City is a really great team, had a really fast start," Lawson, said. "We played better in the second half.
"Even at their place on turf, I think we can play with them," Lawson added.
TMP-Marian trailed 3-0 at halftime, and Monarch players and coaches alike thought no-calls on offside situations helped Dodge City (7-2) score two of those goals.
"I think we got two bad calls," TMP-Marian coach Darryl Wellbrock said. "Cost us first two goals. Think one was our fault."
"I think we got two bad calls," Lawson said.
In the 12th minute, Dodge City sophomore Victor Millan got a long ball and made a run down the right flank, beat the defense and scored inside the far post.
"The first goal, the kids were waiting for the offside call," Wellbrock said.
Dodge City scored again in the 27th minute. Senior Fabian Sanchez sent a low cross into the box, with Monarch freshman goalkeeper Drew O'Brien at first on top of it. But the ball squirted loose, and Red Demon senior Ole Weyand made it 2-0.
Sophomore Antonio Alvarez made a run in the 32nd and despite being closely marked got off a hard shot at the top of box for a 3-0 halftime lead.
TMP-Marian (3-4) didn't get a shot on goal in the first 40 minutes, but sophomore striker Teddy Kang just missed connections on a couple crosses, in the 21st and 34th.
The Class 3A Monarchs played the Red Demons, a Class 6A team, to a stalemate in the second half.
Kang scored for TMP-Marian in the 51st minute. It was his 10th goal in six matches. He got the ball in the penalty area and beat Dodge City junior keeper Juan Guerra inside the far post.
Dodge City scored its goal in the second half in the 59th minute. Senior Andrew De La Torre broke free in the box, but O'Brien stopped his hard shot from close range, with the ball popping up into the air. The Monarchs couldn't clear the ball, and Millan's header hit the cross bar and into the air again, where Millan finished it the second time with another header.
O'Brien made a series of tough saves in the second half. Perhaps his two best stops were a diving save in the 45th minute and a leaping save in the 73rd. O'Brien finished with 10 saves.
"I told him right off the bat, it's coming," Wellbrock said of getting O'Brien ready for a busy day. "We knew this wouldn't be like previous games."
Dodge City coach Virgil Hutchcraft knew TMP-Marian had been winning games big, and wanted his squad to be ready to play.
"My main concern was keeping an eye on them," Hutchcraft said. "We knew they had been beating teams, would come in with a lot of confidence.
"We had to be ready for them to take it to us," he added.
The match was physical, with each side receiving a yellow card.
"That's the way I want to play, get physical, have the referee let the game go," Lawson said.
The Monarchs have changed their defense in recent matches, and Lawson knew Dodge City's speedy forwards would challenge the TMP--Marian back line.
"Dodge City has always been a fast team," Lawson said. "We play a flat back four -- we knew they would place the ball over us."
The new defensive alignment also can draw offside calls. The Monarchs didn't think enough of them were whistled.
"Three goals were offside the refs didn't call," Lawson said.
Although he was unhappy about the no-calls on the offsides, overall, Wellbrock was pleased with his side's effort against a bigger, talented opponent.
"I was pleased with the game," Wellbrock said. "I would have rather seen it 3-1 or 2-1.
"I'm OK with this; I think we've gotten better since Garden City," he added.
TMP-Marian lost 6-2 at Class 6A Garden City on Sept. 16, then had two easy matches coming into Tuesday's game.
"Like the previous game against Garden City, what I wanted was to make us better," Wellbrock said.
TMP-Marian will play host to two more games this week, on Thursday against Nickerson and Saturday against Salina-St. John's Military Academy. Thursday's match starts at 4 p.m., while Saturday's game is a 3 p.m. start.
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