Red Demon soccer uses quick start to beat Lawrence Free State
It took senior Alejandro Marquez just 90 seconds to open up the scoring in the state quarterfinal against Lawrence Free State on Monday night at Memorial Stadium. His shot from outside of the box was placed into the top corner and helped jumpstart the Red Demons’ 7-0 win over the Firebirds.
“That was an excellent goal by him,” head coach Raul De La Torre said. “I wish I had more time to keep working with him because I know I can get him to a very high level, but the season is closing, we’ve got to enjoy it as much as we can.”
The next eight minutes saw both teams go back-and-forth, but the decisive moment of the evening occurred with 30:31 left in the first half. Marquez played a pass behind the high line of Lawrence Free State that sophomore winger Lorenzo Ramirez caught up to. He was fouled from behind inside the box, a yellow card offense for the Free State defender since Ramirez had nobody between him and the goalkeeper. After the yellow card was issued, the ensuing protest resulted in a second yellow card for the defender, sending him off and putting Free State at a man disadvantage for the rest of the night.
“That was a big moment for the players,” De La Torre said. “If we keep driving and we keep possessing the ball and following the game plan, we create more opportunities and sometimes an opportunity like that just shows up. It’s unfortunate for the other team. I know a red card will always suck no matter what, but we had to take advantage of it.”
Ramirez made the penalty to double the Red Demon advantage, and the Red Demons took advantage of the extra man with urgency over the next 10 minutes. Freshman winger Erick Ferreira scored on a rebound from a Marquez shot to make it 3-0, and then junior striker Angel Plata got an assist from goalkeeper Keanu Rosales to make it 4-0 after the long drop kick.
Just before the end of the half Ferreira found his second goal of the night to make it 5-0. In the second half, the entire starting eleven stayed on the bench as the Red Demons added two more goals in the second half from Jostin Vasquez and Chris Alderete. The big lead allowed for rest for the first group, and gave an opportunity for the entire roster to stay warm for when their number is called.
“At the end of the day we want everyone to get tired in every single game because it kind of sucks that when you have a close game, the next day you have to make the team that’s on the bench work out and run,” De La Torre said. “So at this point, I was like ‘well let’s get them in there.’ I let them play the whole half so they can get that experience because that reserve team has a lot of young players and that’s the future.”
The win punches a ticket to the state semifinals for the Red Demons, which they will host at 6 p.m. on Thursday night. The semifinal was originally scheduled for Wednesday night, but each of the other three Class 6A quarterfinals were postponed due to weather, leaving the opponent to be determined.
Blue Valley West and Blue Valley Northwest were tied at two with eleven minutes left before their game was delayed, as if Blue Valley Northwest wins it will be the team to come to Dodge City. If Blue Valley West wins, then the winner of Shawnee Mission South and Blue Valley North will make the trip west. The winner of Wichita East and Wichita Southeast will go on the road against the highest advancing seed from the east side of the bracket.