For the Barton women’s soccer team, the top spot in the Jayhawk West was out of reach. But the runner-up spot was still the Cougars’ for the taking.
Three West games remained on the slate and two of those were with another team battling for the second spot – Garden City.
Round one went to Garden City Wednesday in Garden. The Broncbusters took control of that second spot with a 2-1 win over the Cougars. The best Barton can hope for now is more than likely a tie for that second spot.
The Cougars are 3-3 in the West and 4-5-1 overall. Garden City is 5-1 in the West and 6-5-1 overall. The Broncbusters still have a date with West-leading Hutchinson as well as another battle with Barton.
Wednesday in the Garden, the outcome came down to a key 8-minute stretch in the second half.
The teams battled to a scoreless first half. Neither team scored the final nearly 30 minutes of the game either.
But eight key minutes early in the second half saw three goals.
Garden took a 1-0 lead at the 52:50 mark of the game when Ruth Estrada scored on a Sierra Rivera pass. Garden City made it 2-0 a minute later when Vanessa Delarosa-Herrera scored.
Barton answered at the 60:41 mark when Amber Miller took a pass from Megan Martinez and buried the ball in the net to make it 2-1.
But that would be the end of the scoring as neither team changed the scoreboard the final 29:19 of the game.
Barton is on the road again Saturday when it travels to Goodland to take on Northwest Tech in non-conference action. Northwest Tech is just 1-7-1 on the season and winless in the region. Kickoff is set for 2 pm.

Garden City 2, Barton 1
Barton 0 1 – 1
Garden City 1 1 – 2
Garden – Ruth Estrada (Sierra Rivera), 52:50
Garden – Vanessa Delarosa-Herrera (unassisted), 53:25
Barton – Amber Miller (Megan Martinez), 60:41