Broncbuster men improve to 5-0

By MIKE KESSINGER
mkessinger@gctelegram.com

With two of the team's top scoring threats suspended for Friday's game, the Garden City Community College's men's soccer team blew by the Newman University junior varsity 4-0 at Memorial Stadium. The victory moves the Broncbusters. who have held their last four opponents scoreless, to 5-0 overall.

As freshmen striker Josh Weber and forward Steve Shaw watched the game from the North sideline, the Busters worked their way past Newman in the first half. The GCCC duo from Albuquerque had to sit out the game after they were both red-carded from Wednesday's 2-0 win at Neosho . Because of the severity of Shaw's penalty, he will have to sit out the team's next game, Sept. 16 at Hesston.

"We weren't very sharp at the beginning," GCCC coach Jeff Huffman said. "When you lose two players like that who are starters, that affects the team in some way, but we got the victory, so I'm happy."

A strong wind blowing through the stadium throughout the game, GCCC got its offense going nearly 10 minutes in. The initial score came on a Jeremy Mallak cross-field pass to Elbin Palencia, who drove the ball by Newman goalkeeper Emmanual Gutierrez.

It took the Busters 20 minutes later before forward Hugo Blanco scored at the 15:47 mark. The goal was Blanco's first this season. Kyle French made the score 3-0 with 8:12 to go before halftime.

"It's hard to come together as a group," Huffman said of the Newman team that played its first game of the season, and had just enough players to fill the roster. "They had some talented players out there, without question. They have some players that can get the job done, but it's hard with 11 players."

The lone goal for the Busters in the second half came on a Mallak penalty kick with 27:35 left in the game. His kick came moments after Blanco missed a penalty kick, and was fouled trying to get another shot after the ball richoted off of Gutierrez.

Tempers started to flare on both sides, and after an altercation with less than fives minutes remaining, Newman's Jose Alvarez was ejected. With Alvarez out of the game, Newman had to play the final minutes with just 10 players.