by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Shaking off first game jitters, Kansas City Kansas Community College surged to a 3-2 win over East Central in men’s soccer Sunday.
The Blue Devils will try to make it two in a row Friday when they are host to Blue River at 7:30 p.m. That game will be preceded by a KCKCC – Blue River women’s game at 5 p.m.
Taking advantage of an early foul, East Central scored just five minutes into Sunday’s game on a free kick from 25 yards out.
But the Blue Devils quickly rebounded with three straight goals, all in an 18-minute span of the first half.
Sophomore forward Guilherme Grave of Sao Paulo, Brazil, tied the game 1-1 with an assist from freshman Frano Buhovar 25 minutes into the game and then put KCKCC ahead to stay 10 minutes later with his second goal on an assist from freshman Hector Valles.
Giovannie Calderon, a sophomore from Harmon High School, scored what proved to be the decisive goal with four minutes left in the half on an assist from sophomore Ricardo Angelo. East Central’s second goal came in transition with just seven minutes left in the game.
“A typical first game but once we settled down from first game jitters, we played well,” assistant coach Burke Slusher said. “Most of the second half we played defensively protecting the 3-1 lead although we had a couple of near misses that would have made it 4-1. East Central was credited with only three shots on goal which speaks well of our defense. Hopefully we knocked off the rust and will play better Friday.”