COFFEYVILLE – After a scoreless first half, the Barton Community College women’s soccer team dominated play in the second half and got out of town with a 2-0 win at Coffeyville Wednesday evening in Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference action.
The win moved Barton into second place in the standings early in the conference season. Barton is 2-1-1 in the conference and is now 3-4-2 overall. Coffeyville, which had sat tied for second heading into the game, fell to 2-2 in the Jayhawk and 6-3 overall.
Coffeyville’s only other Jayhawk loss was a 2-1 setback at conference leading Hutchinson on Sunday.
“It was a big win for us that could get us back on track for a favorable finish for the region tournament,” Barotn head coach Aaron Avila said. “We had some bad conference results early in the season which put us in a tough situation.”
The two clubs battle through a scoreless opening 45 minutes but Barton took control early in the second half.
Wichita sophomore Aliya Marshall made it 1-0 when she scored off a rebound just seven minutes into the final half. Millie York took a free kick that hit off the crossbar, but Marshall was there to put the rebound into the net for the game’s first goal.
The Lady Cougars kept the pressure on when Scarlett Real made it 2-0 just a couple minutes later. The Dodge City freshman scored on an assist from fellow freshman Maria Munoz, the reigning conference player of the week.
From there it was just a matter of keeping the Red Ravens at bay as Barton picked up its second Jayhawk win of the season.
The Lady Cougars did that quite well for nearly the entire game as Barton allowed just three shots on goal all night – all three of which were saved by Barton keeper Maria-Elena Garcia.
Barton was the aggressor in both halves, getting off six shots in the opening half and five in the second half – eight of which were on goal during the contest.
“Our girls pretty much dominated the entire game but struggled to scoring goals in the opening half,” Avila said. “We finally got on the board early in the second half and was able to win from there.”
Another big match looms for the Lady Cougars as Barton plays host to Johnson County Saturday at the Cougar Sports Complex. Johnson will bring a 2-0 Jayhawk record to town and a 6-3-1 overall mark. The contest will start at 1 p.m.