Finally.
The Great Bend High School girls’ soccer team finally got over the hump to get their first win of the season, a 7-3 non-conference victory over Thomas More Prep Marian on Monday at Cavanaugh Soccer Fields.
The win extinguishes an 11-game losing streak for the Lady Panthers, who improve to 1-11 this season.
“This is a great feeling,” Great Bend senior forward Summer Bates said. “It’s an amazing. It’s been a long road.”
Great Bend was led by Bates, who recorded a hat trick. She punched in one goal in the first half, along with a pair of goals from senior Kenzie Sinclair and one goal from Alondra Garcia.
“I kicked with my left foot, which is my bad knee,” said Bates, who had her 2012 season end early with a knee injury. “That was dominant foot before, and now, it’s back. This is exciting.
“I got two (goals) with my left foot and one with my right. How I got hurt, was I was running toward the goalie, and she took my legs out when I was kicking with my left foot. When I get there, I always have flashbacks. I get scared, but I didn’t this time.”
The Lady Panthers held a 4-0 advantage at halftime.
Sinclair found Bates with a cross pass early in the second half, and Bates beat the keeper to make it 5-0 before the Lady Monarchs responded.
“We had a really good game on offense,” GBHS head coach Gus Prieto said. “My forwards were fast and strong. They have really good speed, both of them.
“Right now, I’m really concerned about our defense. I talked to them, I told them that this is the worst game for them. They usually are pretty good, but I don’t know if they got confident. I don’t know what happened.
TMP’s Tyra Younie, who had the Lady Monarchs’ only shot in the first half, broke up Great Bend’s shutout as she broke past the defense and dribbled by the goalkeeper for a goal with 34:46 remaining in the game.
Bates responded with her third goal of the game, deflecting a ball over the Lady Monarchs’ goalkeeper and into the net.
TMP got two more goals before Garcia scored with 25 seconds left.
Great Bend goes on the road to play Wichita Southeast today, starting at 4.