Despite holding a lead twice on a rain-soaked afternoon at Cavanaugh Field, the Barton Community College women’s soccer team saw its bid for upset slip away, settling for a 2-2 draw with No. 19 Hutchinson Community College in the conference finale.
The Cougars conclude the Jayhawk slate tied for fourth in the standings with 20 points at 6-6-2 and 10-7-2 overall, while the Blue Dragons wrap up a second-place finish with 28 points at 8-2-4 and 11-2-4 on the season. Barton will close out the regular season Sunday with a 3:00 p.m. road matchup against the junior varsity squad of Kansas Wesleyan University before opening postseason play next weekend as the No. 4 seed, hosting No. 5 Garden City Community College after holding the tiebreaker over the Broncbusters.
Maki Kimura provided the Cougars with a 1-0 halftime advantage in the 17th minute, toeing Candice Burnier‘s outside pass to the top of the box and lacing up a near-post strike for her seventh net shaker of the season.
Hutchinson opened an offensive flurry that produced three goals over a span of 1:07, pulling even in the 51st minute when Lucy Bacon cleaned up Olivia Tamaki’s loose-ball corner kick placed into a congested box to level the match at one apiece.
The Cougars quickly regained the advantage just 54-seconds later, capitalizing on a deflected clearance off a Blue Dragon defender following Saki Takaki‘s free kick. Ayaka Nagano pounced on the loose ball in front of the 6′ and slotted a near-post finish for her fourth goal of the season, pushing Barton back in front 2-1.
However, the Blue Dragons answered immediately on the ensuing restart, as Poppy Smith threaded a through ball that found Tamaki behind the Barton back line for a far-post strike to knot the contest and close the scoring.
The Cougars finished with eight shots, placing three on target, while Hutchinson totaled 12 attempts with nine on goal. Leonie Kerle turned aside seven saves between the posts for Barton.
BARTON SCORING SUMMARY
16:00: Maki Kimura (7); Assist: Candice Burnier (1)
51:25: Ayaka Nagano (4)
