By BRANDON SMITH
Barton Sports Info
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.
Leonie Kerle after making a saveThe 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.