BCC women claim West lead, beat No. 15 Cloud

It was a game that would provide a good test for the Barton women’s soccer team.

The Cougars were coming off a 4-game stretch that saw them outscore their Jayhawk West opponents by a 44-0 margin.

But the trip to Concordia Saturday night would be against one of the top teams in the conference. No. 15 Cloud County and their unbeaten record awaited a red-hot Barton team.

Barton entered the match red-hot and left the match red-hot as well. The Cougars cruised to a 5-1 win over the Thunderbirds.

Thanks to some stellar play from Barton keeper Reyna Gonzalez and yet another fantastic outing from freshman Rayssa Neres, the Cougars are now tied a the top of the conference.

Barton is 5-0-1 in the West and 7-2-1 overall. That puts the Cougars in a tie for the top spot with Hutchinson. Those two played to a 3-all tie earlier in the season. Cloud is now in third at 5-1 and 7-1.

The Cougars scored just 44 seconds into the game. Sophomore Johanna Behrens took a through ball from sophomore Larissa Fagundes and scored her seventh goal of the season. It was Fagudnes seventh assist as well.

The Cougars would strike again early in the second half as Neres broke free after getting a pass from Larissa Modesto. Neres went far post for her 18th goal of the season just 1:10 into the second half.

Neres continued to show why she is one of the favorites for Player of the Year in the conference at the midway point by adding her second goal of the game about 10 minutes later.

Neres took a long pass from Luisa Souza, raced past the defense and beat the T-Bird keeper for a 3-0 lead with 32 minutes left in the contest.

Barton would add a fourth goal and then fifth goal within minutes of each other late in the match to end any doubt as to the outcome of the contest.

Laura Maria scored Barton’s fourth goal and Neres made it a hat trick for a 5-1 lead with 12 minutes in the match.

Gonzalez joined Neres as a bright star in the game for the Cougars with her play in net.

The sophomore keeper Liberal had played just one half in Barton last four blowout wins. With a lot of rest during the past week-plus, Gonzalez was fresh for the showdown against the ranked Thunderbirds.

It showed.

Gonzalez made stellar save after stellar save. In the first half alone, she recorded nine saves. Several of those laid out and in one-on-one situations.

The lone goal Gonzalez allowed was off a free kick with Barton leading 3-0.

She finished the game with 13 saves.

Barton will be home Wednesday to take on Northwest Tech at 2 pm. The Mavericks are 1-4 in the conference and 1-4-1 overall.

Barton 5, No 15 Cloud 1

Barton 1 4 – 5

Cloud 0 1 – 1

SCORING SUMMARY

Barton – Behrens (Fagudnes), 0:44

Barton – Neres (Modesto), 46:10

Barton – Neres, 57:57

Cloud – Castro (Cupertino), 68:07

Barton – Maria (Neres), 76:21