Enduring gusting south winds that reached 25 miles per hour, the No. 9 Barton Community College men's soccer team remained poised Sunday afternoon, striking twice in each half to post a 4-1 win over Seward County Community College at Memorial Stadium in Dodge City.
The victory improves the Cougars to 3-2-1 in conference play and 8-3-2 overall, while the Saints drop to 0-5-0 in league action and 4-5-0 on the season. Barton will have the week away from competition before Saturday's travel to Garden City Community College for a 7:00 p.m. kickoff at Broncbuster Stadium.
The Cougars opened the scoring just 3:06 into the contest, as Masaki Tsuji shaped a pass from Jaiko Miguelez into the upper 90 from 20 yards out for his 10th goal of the season.
Barton's advantage doubled 14 minutes later when Diogo Gimenez unleashed a 35 yard strike off a setup feed from Samuele Mailer for his third tally of the campaign, sending the Cougars into the locker room with a 2-0 lead.
Benefiting with the wind at their backs in the second half, Barton continued to apply pressure. Tsuji stretched the margin to 3-0 just four minutes after the restart, carrying into the box and firing a far post strike for his second of the match and fourth multi-goal of the season.
The shutout bid ended in the 64th minute as a counterattack led by Jevic Mwarza's delivered cross into the box, found the head of Suain Moncayo backside for Seward's lone goal.
Mailer later capped Barton's scoring in the 81st minute, finishing a feed from Kotaro Kimura for his third goal of the season.
Goalkeeper Pedro Lisboa earned the victory between the pipes, recording one save while anchoring a defensive effort that held the Saints to just two shots on target.
BARTON SCORING SUMMARY
3:06: Masaki Tsuji (10); Assist: Jaiko Miguelez (1)
17:35: Diogo Gimenez (3); Assist: Samuele Mailer (1)
48:33: Masaki Tsuji (11)
80:48: Samuele Mailer (3); Assist: Kotaro Kimura (1)