By ADAM HOLT

Special to The Hays Daily News

GARDEN CITY -- For one half at least, the Thomas More Prep-Marian High School boys' soccer team was winning.

The Monarchs took a one-goal lead out of halftime against the Garden City Buffaloes, one of the top teams in Class 6A. But after a sloppy first 40 minutes, Garden City collected itself, and TMP lost a 4-1 decision Thursday in the consolation bracket of the Wichita North Cup.

The game was played in Garden City's Memorial Stadium instead of in Wichita, rather than both teams driving east.

Playing a lineup consisting largely of underclassmen, the Monarchs had a 1-0 lead just 14 minutes into the game, when Carlos Duenes scored on a direct kick just outside the 18-yard box. The shot beat GCHS goalkeeper Carlos Luquin cleanly and TMP had a surprising lead.

Surprising, in part because the Monarchs absorbed a 10-2 loss to the Buffaloes in Garden City just a month ago.

"I think they kind of took it for granted, they throttled us the first time, 10-2 I think," TMP coach Shawn Lawson said. "I think we caught them off guard."

The Monarchs didn't necessarily outplay the Buffs in the first half, but Garden City was sloppy with the ball and some miscommunications on defense allowed TMP some opportunities on offense.

"The thing about, when you beat somebody 9-1 or whatever, and then you think you're gonna do the same thing next time -- it doesn't happen that way," GCHS coach Joaquin Padilla said. "Every game is different. You don't score nine; the next time you might not score nine, you might get scored on first -- like they did, they scored on us first."

Garden City came out playing better when the second half started, tying the game on a goal from David Amaro in the 48th minute. The Buffs continued to work the ball up the wings and fire through-balls up the middle, and Erik Barragan took one such pass and got a enough of a foot on it to squeak it by goalkeeper Collan Lawson from about nine yards out to put Garden City ahead 2-1 in the 61st minute.

The Buffs continued to attack the Monarchs' defense, getting goals from Esteban Neave in the 68th minute and Jeremy Cruz in the 76th.

"I even told my team at half, one goal's not enough," Shawn Lawson said. "These guys are going to wake up. They need this win. They're not going to let us walk out of here without putting some goals on us."

Chances in the second half were few for TMP. The Monarchs got a flick header off a free kick that Luquin made a save on, and Duenes fired a shot on a long free kick that took a tricky hop, but the Buffs' defense tightened up after giving the ball away often in the first half.

One of Luquin's punts went off his own defender in the 13th minute, and the Monarchs got a shot off that was saved when the keeper scrambled back to cover it up. TMP picked off a number of errant passes and got some turnovers off GCHS misplays, but was only able to convert one of the chances.

Despite the loss, Lawson said he was happy to get some of the younger players time on the field.

"It's good experience," he said. "At least for a half we won."