Broncbusters give up second-half goal in loss to Pratt

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Call this the game of missed opportunities for Garden City.

Keenan Cropp's goal in the 69^th minute was all Pratt needed to beat the Broncbusters 1-0 Wednesday night and even the season series, 1-1.

"Our minds just weren't in the right place," Head Coach Corey Bryant said. "We had a chance to be in second place with a win, and we didn't deliver. That's all there is to it."

Garden City had so many chances to score, but were turned away each time.

In the 25^th minute, Abdoulaye Agyen had back-to-back headers that were deflected away by Pratt keeper, Clayton Scott. In the 56^th minute, Lucas Martins knifed his way into the box and appeared to have Scott beaten. But his shot went wide, and the match remained scoreless.

Pratt had their opportunities as well. In the 65^th minute, Nadir Cano-Lorente had a 1-on-1 with Garden City goalkeeper Gabriel Melo. But the sophomore was game, knocking the shot away and keeping things all square.  

But Melo wasn't so lucky a few minutes later when Callum Milne's rocket deflected off of the sophomore keeper and ricocheted right to Kropp, who fired it into the right-corner of the net, putting the Beavers up 1-0.

The majority of the second half was played on Garden City's end. But the Broncbusters had a golden chance to tie the match in the 85^th minute. Agyen setup Thairy Hamadou perfectly, but the sophomore defender lost his footing just outside the box, and Pratt cleared the ball away.

The Broncbusters lost the match despite outshooting Pratt 14-11. Melo recorded nine saves.

Garden City is back on the road on Saturday at Metropolitan. Match time is set for 1:30 p.m.