A pair of goals was all the Great Bend High School boys’ soccer team to edge out their Western Athletic Conference rivals Hays.
The Panthers put the ball in the net once in each of the halves to win 2-1 on Tuesday evening at Cavanaugh Fields.
“The first half was kind of slow for both teams,” GBHS head coach Gus Prieto said. “We started slow. We controlled the ball, but we should’ve gone harder. We should’ve scored more. Against the wind, we always play better.”
Great Bend improves to 3-4-1 overall, 1-1-1 in the WAC.
Great Bend’s Luis Mata punched in the first goal for the Panthers, putting them up 1-0.
“Somebody passed the ball to him and he made a shot,” Prieto said of Mata. “The ball was right there in the corner. The keeper, there was nothing he could do there. It was a good goal.
“I’m happy for him. He needed to score. Sometimes as a forward, you have down times, sometimes you have games where you can’t score and have bad luck. Hopefully, now he can score more for us.”
The Panthers defense kept the Indians from scoring throughout the first half, leaving it 1-0 at halftime.
“In the first half, we should’ve scored more goals and I told them so,” Prieto said. “We need to be stronger. In the second half, they’re going to try and score, so we need more.”
Early in the second half, Great Bend was whistled for a foul inside the 18-foot box.
Hays scored on the penalty kick, leaving the game knotted at one apiece.
“It was a PK and I wasn’t sure if it was (a foul) or not,” Prieto said, “but that happens. Our defense played well, but we can definitely play better.”
With less than 15 minutes remaining in regulation, Great Bend got its final goal.
Alejandro Espino, who recently set Great Bend’s school record for most goals scored by blasting St. John’s Academy for six goals, buried the ball in the back of the net to give the Panthers the  lead.
“Alejandro is one of the fastest players on the team,” Prieto said. “He now has 10 goals on the season. With his speed, he’s playing better every day.”
Great Bend hosts Dodge City on Thursday. The junior varsity game starts at 4 p.m., followed by the varsity.