The No. 7 Barton Community College men's soccer team passed its first ranked test of the young season Saturday afternoon, overcoming an early deficit to knock off No. 9 Otero College 2-1 at the Cougar Soccer Complex.
Falling behind just over six minutes into the contest, the Cougars answered with the equalizer 10 minutes later on Rafael Calmon's second goal in as many days before returning All-American Masaki Tsuji made his season debut with a bang, coming off the bench at halftime and needing just 32 seconds to bury the eventual game-winner.
The victory concludes a perfect 2-0 opening weekend for Barton, while the Rattlers begin their campaign 0-1. The Cougars continue their season-opening five-game homestand Wednesday, hosting Western Nebraska Community College in a 10:00 a.m. kickoff.
Otero landed the opening punch just 6:11 into the contest as Atsushi Sawada carried the ball across midfield before slipping a through ball behind the Cougar backline to find the charging Prince-Ivan Nginyu, who finished to the far post for an early 1-0 Rattler advantage.
Barton needed just over 10 minutes to find the equalizer as goalkeeper Pedro Lisboa sparked the attack with a long ball upfield. Samuele Mailer settled the delivery before finding Calmon
+, who turned and buried a far-post strike for his second goal in as many days, leveling things at 1-1 with 28:25 to play in the opening frame.
Remaining deadlocked into the half, the Cougars' lineup change out of the break paid off immediately as Tsuji stepped onto the pitch for his season debut. Just 32 seconds later, Aidan Dunne laid the ball off to Lucas Meibom, whose feed in front found the returning All-America for a 1v1 near-post finish and his 17th career goal, putting Barton in front for good, 2-1.
The Rattlers nearly found the equalizer less than five minutes later as Jayden Bennett rang an attempt off the post, but the Cougar defense held firm over the remaining 39-plus minutes. Lisboa turned away Otero's lone second-half shot on target and finished with five saves on six shots on frame to move to 2-0-0 on the season.
BARTON SCORING SUMMARY
16:35: Rafael Calmon (2); Assists: Samuele Mailer (1), Pedro Lisboa (1)
45:32: Masaki Tsuji (1); Assists: Lucas Meibom (1), Aidan Dunne (1