By BRANDON SMITH
Barton Sports Info
Behind a first-half surge and a hat trick performance from Katie Potter, the Barton Community College women's soccer team closed out the regular season in dominate fashion Sunday afternoon, cruising to a 5-0 victory over the Kansas Wesleyan University junior varsity squad at JRI Stadium in Salina.
The victory sends the Cougars into the postseason with an 11-7-2 overall record, while the Coyotes slip to 6-3-1 on the year. Barton will open the Plains District Tournament as the No. 4 seed, hosting No. 5 Garden City Community College next weekend, with the date and location to be determined due to ongoing construction at the Cougar Soccer Complex.
Potter opened the scoring in the 6th minute, netting her fifth goal of the season to hand the Cougars an early 1-0 advantage. Barton doubled their margin just four minutes later as a defensive miscue by the Coyotes resulted in an own goal.
The Cougars extended its advantage in the 13th minute, when Sara Aguirre sparked a counterattack, drawing the KWU JV keeper out of net before threading a pass across the box to Potter for an empty net finish for her second of the contest sending Barton into halftime in front 3-0.
The momentum carried into the second half as Aguirre tallied her team-leading 12 goal of the season in the 75th minute, toeing up Candice Burnier's through ball and drilling an upper-90 strike to the far post. Potter capped the scoring in the 88th minute, completing her second career hat trick with a near-post blast from ten yards out off a setup from Maki Kimura.
Barton's backline and goalkeeping unit held the Coyotes at bay as the Cougars secured their fifth shutout of the season.