BY JIM MISUNAS
Great Bend Panther Mayra Ramirez and soccer teammate Yulisa Valdez were primed for a high-scoring season All-Western Athletic Conference Ramirez led the Panthers in scoring and assists while Valdez was a secondary offensive threat.
Ramirez and Valdez each scored two goals in a 5-1 regional victory over Arkansas City. Ramirez scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Junction City.
But the promising Great Bend girls soccer season was short-circuited when the season was canceled by the threat of the coronavirus. The Panthers (6-11, 1-7 WAC) won five of their final seven matches last year.
The Panthers featured multiple starters and key reserves led by Briana Perez, Citlali Sanchez, Karina Mata, Jocelin Pando and Joanna Sanchez. Casandra Enriquez and Rosa Campos had trained to play goalie.
“It would’ve been amazing to play. Every season we saw progress, and it was going to be a good season,” said Great Bend coach Margarita Ayala. “We had a nice number of seniors who had played for three years. I had coached all of the seniors since they were seventh-graders. It was very disappointing when our season was canceled. We had our senior posters ready to be displayed.”
Ayala said the veterans were joined by a record number of players who intended to compete.
“We had girls who had played basketball, swimming, even dance line,” she said. “We had more than 40 girls, then more girls showed up the second week. We’d never had this number of girls try out.”
Ayala said the girls were emotional when they were told there would be no soccer season.
“I told them I wish God would’ve help us through this,” she said. “They were very sad, of course. There was a lot of crying.”
Ayala is hopeful the team will gather together sometime in the future to play an exhibition match that would showcase the graduating seniors who missed their chance to compete.
“We would love for them to enjoy a Senior Day,” she said.
