By TODD MOORE
Barton Sports Info
A second half penalty kick provided the difference maker Wednesday for the Barton Community College men's soccer team in a 2-1 victory over Seward County Community College at the Cougar Soccer Complex.
Winners of two straight, the Cougars conclude the first path through the rugged Jayhawk Conference at 3-3-0 while moving to 7-3-0 on the season. The loss drops the Saints to 1-2-3 in league play and 4-3-3 overall.
Barton will continue its season long five match homestand Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. looking to avenge an earlier season loss to Dodge City Community College before hosting a midweek non-conference classic October 1-3 featuring Otero Junior College and No. 3 ranked Indian Hills Community College.
Just midway through the opening half, Loic Kanku put the Cougars on top with 18:25 remaining cleaning up his initial deflected shot attempt blasting it past the five-time KJCCC Goalkeeper of the Week Bruno Mestres.
The advantage lasted just forty-two seconds as an errant defensive pass was intercepted by the Saints' Felipe Flores netting the equalizer converting the 1v1 attempt against Cougar netkeeper Gabriel Bergamin.
Playing to a 1-1 stalemate at halftime with Barton holding a slight 10-9 edge on shots, the contest quickly swung just 5:47 into the second half with Seward County finding themselves at a disadvantage going down a man due to a second yellow card violation.
Benefitting with a man advantage over the final 39:13, the Barton attack wore down the Saints backline in the 76th minute with Diego Giminez brought down inside the box resulting in a penalty kick. Taping the line, leading goal scorer Maxence Voinier delivered the eventual game winner converting the spot kick with 14:05 remaining.