Hutchinson CC Sports Information
The Hutchinson Community College women’s soccer team posted its most decisive postseason victory since 2015 on Saturday to advance to the Region 6 Tournament semifinals.
Powered by five different goal scorers and a suffocating defense at the Salthawk Soccer Complex, the No. 3-seeded Blue Dragons blanked the Barton Cougars 5-0 in an opening-round matchup.
Hutchinson (10-6-3) advances to the semifinals to play No. 2-seed Butler at 6 p.m. at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex in El Dorado. Barton finishes its season at 4-7-8.
The Blue Dragons took total command of the game with three goals in a 6-minute, 8-second span of the first half. From there, Hutchinson’s defense allowed only three shots to reach freshman goalkeeper Hanna Helshani for its sixth shutout of the season.
The five-goal margin of victory was the largest in the Region 6 Tournament since a 5-0 opening-round win over Cowley on October 31, 2015. The Blue Dragons are now 17-5 in the Region 6 Tournament opening round, 13-2 at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.
Sophomores Olivia Tamaki and Isabell Van Fleet led the Blue Dragons with four-point games, each collecting a goal and two assists.
Sophomores Poppy Smith, Lucy Bacon and Zemyna Lekaviciute were the other goal scorers. The goals by Bacon and Lekaviciute were their first goals of the season. Freshman Laerke Moller-Jensen was credited with an assist.
The Blue Dragons out-shot Barton 18-8 overall and 10-3 in shots on goal.
Helshani (8-5-2) posted her fourth shutout of the season with three saves. Now with 71 saves this season, Helshani moves into sixth place on the Blue Dragon single-season saves list.
The Blue Dragons started the scoring in the 21st minute when Van Fleet made a strong run into the Barton box. As she tried to pass to Smith, the attempt was deflected right back to her. Van Fleet then slid a perfect pass right to Smith, who went high to beat Cougar keeper Lucie Gillig for the first goal of the game and Smith’s ninth of the season.
The Dragons’ second goal came off a corner kick from Tamaki. Bacon received the corner and lobbed a soft shot over Gillig into the upper right corner of the goal for a 2-0 lead with 20:01 to play in the second half.
Hutchinson completed its three-goal-in-6:08 barrage when Van Fleet played a ball to Tamaki, who instantly slid a pass to Lekaviciute, who made a nifty move by flicking the ball behind her to avoid a Barton defender and then laced a shot from the top of the box for her first goal of the season and a 3-0 lead with 18:40 to play in the first half.
The Blue Dragons wound up with a four-goal first half. Tamaki pressured and took the ball right off a Barton defender’s foot and had a breakaway opportunity. She scored her 11th goal of the season for a 4-0 lead with 4:40 to go in the first half.
The Dragons got their fifth goal from Van Fleet, who was sent in on a breakaway from a pass near midfield by Moller-Jensen. Van Fleet scored her team-high 15th goal for a 5-0 lead with 16:25 remaining in the game.
The Blue Dragons are now 4-0 all-time against Barton in the Region 6 Tournament.
