After a scoreless first half, the Barton Community College men’s soccer team struck for two goals within fifty seconds early in the second half enroute to Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over Cowley College at the Cougar Soccer Complex. The victory keeps Barton’s hopes alive for another Jayhawk title as the Cougars improve to 4-1-2 for third place in the conference and 5-3-3 overall while dropping Cowley to 3-4-0 and 4-6-0 overall.
Outshooting the Tigers 25-12 in the contest, the Cougars got their first two goals through free kick opportunities both coming off the boot of sophomore Christopher Hogg. Lining up on the first attempt from about thirty yards out, Hogg buried the strike top ninety. On a near instant replay forty-eight seconds later, Hogg stepped up to deliver an almost identical shot this time coming near the left corner of the 18′ giving the Cougars a two goal lead just 3:40 into the second frame.
Gian Scalise gave the Cougars some cushion midway through the half getting loose down the left side outracing the Tiger defender to set up a one-on-one with goalkeeper Gabriel Rosa. Scalise made one final juke then buried the strike pushing the Barton lead out to 3-0 with 19:34 remaining.
Appearing to be headed for his fifth shutout of the season, sophomore keeper Austin Kail couldn’t quite control a Alex Salinas strike leaving the ball loose in the 8′. The Tigers’ Roman Gutierrez was on the doorstop and despite the efforts of a scrambling Kail to recover, Gutierrez was able to push it past breaking the shutout with a mere 2:03 on the clock.
Barton will step out of conference play for the last time this season on Friday as the Cougars will play its last regular season game on home turf in a 4:00 p.m. kick against Northeastern Junior College. The Cougars will then have nine days before wrapping up regular season play with two road conference matches beginning on Sunday, October 19, at Neosho County Community College then traveling the short distance to Pratt Community College on the following Tuesday.
