L&T staff report
Two teams with very different starts to the season met at Redskin Field Thursday, and despite weather delays, red cards and penalty kicks, the Liberal Redskins came away with an improbable 2-1 win over Garden City to handle the Buffaloes their first loss of the season.
The game was delayed more than an hour and a half because of lightning and a storm that rolled through Liberal at about 6:30 p.m.
But the Redskins and Buffaloes waited it out, and the game began after 8 p.m.
Liberal suffered a 5-0 home loss earlier in the week to Dodge City, and the team needed a win to turn the 1-3 season around.
Garden City came to the Burial Grounds with a 4-0 start, and the game quickly became a physical contest with pushing and shoving the norm.
Liberal was given six yellow cards and Garden City had five. With rain falling in the first half, neither team was able to score a goal. The Buffaloes had a chance on a penalty kick, but Gael Ruvalcaba made the save to keep the game tied at 0-0.
In the first two minutes of the second half, Suain Moncayo connected on a direct kick from 20 yards out to give the Redskins a 1-0 lead.
But a red card left the Redskins shorthanded for most of the second half.
The Buffaloes tied the game with a penalty kick with 36 minutes to play, but Giovanny Reyes scored a goal off a header in the final 10 minutes, and the Redskins defended the rest of the way for the win.