Garden City girls win WAC with 7-0-1 record

GK Hutcheson snares Player of Year honor

Most every spring season the Garden City Lady Buffaloes’ soccer team opens their campaign with the Goddard Invitational.

It’s a three-game in five days tournament, made even more demanding by the back-and-forth traveling that the Buffs make for each game.

They’ve never won the tournament and that remained so in 2025. But this year’s 2-1 mark in the tourney paved the way for what proved to a highly successful year for Coach Jose Vital and his squad.

“We have never won that with the current girls on the team,” Vital said. “So, when we lost to Rose Hill (Class 4A quarterfinalist), we knew we still have some things to improve on.”

When it came time for the Western Athletic Conference double round-robin schedule, the Buffs knew it would be another big challenge as Dodge City, Liberal and Hays all have highly competitive programs and even Great Bend is on the upswing with its program.

The Buffs, however, suffered a roster loss early on when Aniyah Merjil, one of the team’s top wingers, went down with a season-ending leg injury.

“That really hurt because a lot of teams were able to take advantage of that (loss),” Vital said. “Then losing Cecilia (Garcia) didn’t help either.”

The Lady Buffs, however, proved up to the challenge as they went through the eight-game slate with a 7-0-1 mark, having only a 2-2 tie with Dodge City keeping an otherwise undefeated, untied record from occurring.

“Anytime you win the WAC, you can honestly say you’ve had a successful season,” Vital said. “We’re not a typical high-scoring offense, so we rely on our defense and goalkeeping to give us the best chance of winning.”

Vital’s sophomore goalkeeper, Jarica Hutcheson, was voted WAC Player of the Year. Her stats were impressive, giving up just 1.56 goals per game, but taking out a 7-0 loss to 5A powerhouse Bishop Carroll, her goals against drops to 1.2.

The season came to an earlier ending than the Buffs had hoped with a first-round loss to Topeka High in the Class 6A regionals. The team finished with an overall record of 10-4-2, with the second tie coming against Wichita North.

All four losses came to teams that reached their respective state quarterfinals – Topeka High in Class 6A, Bishop Carroll and Kapaun Mt. Carmel in 5A and Rose Hill in 4A.

“I think sometimes we are a little intimidated by the eastern schools and it gets in their (players) head,” Vital said. “Often, it takes a goal for them to just get into the game. KMC, Topeka and Rose Hill (and Bishop Carroll) all scored on us first.”

But when the WAC schedule kicks in, it seems the Lady Buffs are in high gear.

“A lot of the teams in our league play a similar style so I think we’re just more comfortable when it comes to playing those teams, and certainly more confident,” Vital said. 

Late in the season, after a tough 0-0 tie with Wichita North, the Buffs came back less than 24 hours later and beat Hays, 5-0, in the WAC finale on the road. 

“I’ve never seen our girls play so good,” Vital said of that regular season ending game.

Leading scorers for the Buffs were Isabel Espino and Jasleen Ortega with six goals each and Trini Garcia followed with 5 goals and 7 assists to lead the team’s overall scoring.

“These were huge key elements for our team,” Vital said. “Trini did a great job of making cross passes for to get goals and she understood our style of play. This was probably our best passing team since I’ve been coaching.”

Soph. Hutcheson plays for keeps in the goal for Lady Buffs

Garden City sophomore Jarica Hutcheson sees herself as the last potential stop to a goal from an opposing team.

However, she is the first to credit her back line defenders and how they help keep goals from being scored.

“They helped me get a good read on through balls and we did a good job of communicating back and forth,” Hutcheson said.

In learning about her being named Player of the Year, Hutcheson said she was on the happy trail.

“I just jumped out of my chair when Coach told me,” Hutcheson said. “I think it’s a reflection of all the hard work I’ve put in, but credit to my excellent teammates, too.”

Hutcheson said having played in the offseason with a traveling team out of Wichita has also honed her keeping skills.

“I think I improved a lot on my one-handed saves and did a better job on my one-on-ones,” Hutcheson said. “I study a lot of film, and I think the hardest part is developing the strong mentality and being confident to make the big saves.”

Her goals against average this season was 1.56 which also included a tough 7-0 loss to Class 5A powerhouse Wichita-Bishop Carroll. Remove that game from the scoring average and it drops to 1.2 GA.

“If somebody scores a goal on you, you can’t let it go to your head,” Hutcheson said. “You just have to toughen up and be ready to defend the next shot.”

Of all the shots to defend, Hutcheson said the one that sails high into the upper portion of the net is the most difficult.

“The upper 90 in the corner is the toughest one,” she said. “You must take a power step and just make the best play on the ball possible. I’ve got a pretty good vertical jump and that helps.”

Being the last line of defense, Hutcheson said she is responsible for communicating to the players in front where the ball is and where it might be distributed.

“Reading the field and being a leader is important,” Hutcheson said. “You always have to be prepared to move right or left depending on where the shots come from.”

Winning the WAC was a highlight of the season for Hutcheson and her teammates, she said.

“It was pretty awesome going undefeated,” Hutcheson said. “Next year, I just want to be able to defend shots even better.”

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ALL CONFERENCE GIRLS SOCCER – 2025

	FIRST TEAM	GRADE	SCHOOL
1	Jarica Hutcheson	10	Garden City
2	Trinicia Garcia	11	Garden City
3	Jasleen Ortega	11	Garden City
4	Isabel Espino	12	Garden City
5	Karime Rueda	11	Dodge City
6	Kathia Ramirez	12	Dodge City
7	Yakeline Zetino	11	Dodge City
8	Ashley Alonso	11	Dodge City
9	Lily Guy	9	Liberal
10	Nicole Catalan	12	Liberal
11	Dani Willeford	12	Hays

	SECOND TEAM	GRADE	SCHOOL
1	Cecilia Garcia	12	Garden City
2	Jocelyn Guerrero	9	Garden City
3	Kelly Morales	12	Dodge City
4	Annie Humphrey	11	Hays
5	Kinslee Newell	11	Hays
6	Sienna Lummus	11	Hays
7	Ashley Batista	9	Liberal
8	Liliana Santiago	10	Liberal
9	Ljill Reimer	12	Great Bend
10	Araceli Aguilera	10	Great Bend
11	Xali Arias	9	Great Bend

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