Garden City drops wild match to Cowley

By Mike Pilosof

Arkansas City, KS-Garden City was literally less than two seconds away from making history. But in an instant, that chance was wiped away, and the Broncbusters shot of knocking off a ranked opponent for the first time ever went out the window.   

Taking advantage of a late Broncbuster mistake, Manuela Oliveira tied the game with a penalty kick with 1.2 seconds left in regulation before Leticia Belloni's goal eight minutes into overtime gave the 16^th-ranked Tigers an improbable 2-1 come-from-behind victory over Garden City Monday night at Tiger Field.

"The girls did everything that we asked of them and more," Head Coach Corey Bryant said afterwards. "I couldn't be prouder of their effort. It's unfortunate to get the result that we did."

The loss dropped Garden City to 1-1 overall. More concerning is the fact that the Broncbusters will be without three players for their match at Hutchinson on Wednesday: Adamaris Medina (two yellow cards), Joleena Ddominquez (red card), and Miranda Cardona (two yellow cards).  

Garden City gave themselves a chance despite all the mis happenings. In the 38^th minute, Medina sent a cross to Giovanna Martinez, who blasted a ball into the right corner for a 1-0 advantage.

The defense held serve from there.

Under constant pressure all night, goalie Haven Purcell was magnificent, swatting eight shots while keeping the Broncbusters in the lead. But with time winding down in regulation, Dominquez was called for a handball in the box. Moments later, Oliveira scored on a penalty kick to send the match in overtime. That was the beginning of the end for Garden City, who was now down three players following Dominque's ejection.

"To lose a match like that is very unfortunate," Bryant said.

In the 98^th minute, Cowley put the match away thanks to Belloni, who snuck a ball past Purcell for the eventual game winner.

Cowley outshot Garden City 32-3.