Busters fall from ranks of unbeaten

The undefeated streak is over for the Garden City Broncbusters men's soccer team, as the fourth-ranked Johnson County Cavaliers earned a 3-1 victory Friday in suburban Kansas City.

The game was tied 1-1 at halftime, but the Broncbusters had two players ejected from the game less than 10 minutes into the second half.

GCCC coach Jeff Huffman would not comment on who the players were or why they were ejected, but Huffman said playing two men short from that point on was the turning point in the contest.

"They're just too good," Huffman said. "We just couldn't hold them off."

Jonathen Baldwin gave Johnson County a 2-1 lead with a goal with 22 minutes remaining, then added his second goal two minutes later to ice the contest.

Johnson County took a 1-0 lead on a penalty kick by Matt Iverson with 21 minutes left in the first half. Garden City (9-1-1) tied the game with three minutes left in the half on a goal by Steve Shaw.

Despite the first loss in the program's history, Huffman learned a lot about his squad.

"We've seen Johnson, we've seen Barton and we definitely can compete with those teams," Huffman said. "It's 1-1 and we get two guys thrown out and you can see what happened. But I'd rather lose this one than the next one (in the playoffs)."

The Lady Broncbusters fell to No. 15 Johnson County 6-0. The Lady Cavaliers scored three goals in each half to drop Garden City to 2-5 on the season.

Garden City returns home Sunday to face Coffeyville. The Lady Busters begin at 10 a.m. with the men to follow at noon.