BY BRETT MARSHALL It required Great Bend's school record-holder Xali Arias to turn around seven years of winless Western Athletic Conference girls soccer matches. Midfielder Arias earned Western Athletic Player of the Year honors when she shattered Yesenia Garcia's school record with 33 goals. She finished with 73 points with seven assists (2 points for a goal, 1 for an assist). Arias has 51 career goals after scoring 18 goals with three assists as a freshman. “I found out May 29 and I can’t lie, I cried,” Arias said. “It was just a little crazy because I’ve worked so hard. We were at a team dinner and that’s when I learned. It was amazing to share it with my teammates.” Things have changed dramatically under the watchful eye of coach Noel Rodriguez. The Panthers snapped a 7-year 40-match Western Athletic Conference winless streak with a 2-1 road victory over Hays The Panthers (9-8) finished third and won a school record three WAC road games for finish 3-5 to place third behind Garden City and Hays. The Panthers achieved their best record since 2004 and tied for their best WAC finish since 2008. Arias said she and her current teammates have been playing on a travel teams for several years and coach Rodriguez had changed the team’s work ethic. “We’re more competitive and more serious about getting better,” Arias said. Arias described herself as an aggressive midfielder who thrives on the physicality of the sport. “I’ve worked a lot with weights to get stronger and I think that helps when I can get control of the ball,” Arias said. “We push ourselves to get better. Our practices are tough when we break down different areas to work on.” Arias said she likes to have the ball so she can move it to her teammates for them to have scoring opportunities. Her strength, she said, is in her ability to shoot the ball. The area she wants to improve upon the most is her speed and quickness. "We had a good year, but we know next year can be better,” Arias said. “We want to compete for the WAC title and make a deep run in the playoffs.” Coach Rodriguez said Arias is an “all-in” player who loves the sport and wants to excel. “She’s a good role model now and she will be growing into more leadership as an upperclassman,” Rodriguez said. “She’s hard to match up with because she’s quick and agile and can get open and get the ball to her teammates.” For Arias, the recent season was just a stepping stone to bigger and better things in the future. She's tied the single-game record with six goals with Garcia (2007) and Jillian Reimer (2023). Arias has Garcia's career scoring record of 74 goals on her radar. “We have new and higher goals,” Arias said. “We completed with a lot of teams and now we need to turn those into wins.” Great Bend's Arias and Teegan Guerra earned the most votes in the WAC. Great Bend's Melissa Gutierrez and Arcaeli Aguliera earned second-team All-WAC honors. Also earning first-team all-league honors were WAC champion Garden City with Aliyah Rodriguez, Jennfyer Tamayo, Jeric Hutcheson and Jasleen Ortega, Hays High's Annie Humphrey and Kinslee Newell, Liberal's Lilly Guy and Ashley Batista and Dodge City's Jazmin Rojas. Garden City's Jose Vital-Carlo earned Coach of the Year honors. WAC FIRST TEAM GARDEN CITY—Aliyah Rodriguez, 11; Jeric Hutcheson, 11; Jennfyer Tamayo, 10; Jsleen Ortega, 12 GREAT BEND—Xali Arias, 10; Teegan Guerra, 11 LIBERAL—Lilly Guy, 10; Ashley Batista, 10 HAYS HIGH—Annie Humphrey, 12; Kinslee Newell, 12 DODGE CITY—Jazmin Rojas, 12 PLAYER OF YEAR—Xali Arias, Great Bend COACH OF YEAR—Jose Vital-Caro, Garden City WAC SECOND TEAM HAYS—Liz Cunningham, 12; Sienna Lummus, 12; Karlee Crispin, 12 GREAT BEND—Melissa Gutierrez, 12; Arcaeli Aguliera, 11 GARDEN CIT—Trinicia Garcia, 12; Annaly Enriguez, 10 LIBERAL—Liliana Santiageo, 11; Ana Vela, 10 DODGE CITY—Kenya Ortiz, 12; Briana Garcia, 10 WAC GIRLS SOCCER Garden City 7-1 13-7-1 Hays High 5-3 8-8 Great Bend 3-5 9-8 Liberal 2-5-1 6-8-1 Dodge City 2-5-1 3-12-1