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Liberal shuts down Lady Panthers
Prep Soccer
spt kp GBHS coach
Great Bend head coach Gus Prieto instructs his team during halftime against Liberal on Tuesday evening. - photo by Kevin Price Great Bend Tribune


Kept on their heels the entire game, the Great Bend High School girls’ soccer team couldn’t stop Liberal’s Kelly Ramirez on Tuesday evening at Cavanaugh Soccer Fields.
The sophomore midfielder finished with a hat trick in the Lady Redskins’ 3-0 Western Athletic Conference victory.
In spite of the shutout, Great Bend head coach Gus Prieto said that he saw some good things to take away.
“The important thing today is we had good moments during the game,” Gus Prieto said. “We passed the ball well. We had to move a lot of players around playing positions they don’t usually play. It makes it harder.
“Another important thing is we had chances to score. We had a chance, and we missed it. If you’re playing a tied game or one goal, that can change the game.”
The Lady Panthers, who are 0-4 overall, 0-1 in the WAC, were kept on defense throughout most of the game.
The Great Bend offense did produce a handful of opportunities to score, including a pair of one-on-ones between Summer Bates and Liberal goalkeeper Sophia Nguyen. However, none of those opportunities were fruitful.
Due to injuries, Great Bend was forced to start three freshmen.
“I have four freshmen on the field, three started,” Gus Prieto said. “We don’t have too many players, and we have four injuries. It makes it harder. I think we tried. We did alright, but we just have a lot of people who haven’t played before.”
The Lady Panthers tacked on another injury when freshman goalkeeper Maleigha Prieto injured her knee in the first half.
“We had our keeper go down in the first half, so we had to play our JV keeper,” Gus Prieto said. “She did a really good job.”
Ramirez scored two of her three goals for the Lady Redskins (3-2, 1-0) in quick succession in the first half. She capped her hat trick with 5:22 remaining in the game on a cross pass from Jasmine Chacon, who assisted all three goals.
Great Bend travels to Garden City on Thursday. The junior varsity game starts at 4 p.m., with the varsity following.