Late goal lifts Butler to 3-2 road win over Lady Tiger soccer team

The No. 16-ranked Cowley College women's soccer team suffered a damaging defeat to its conference title hopes with a 3-2 home loss against Butler Community College on Wednesday. The Grizzlies pulled out the victory thanks to Sakiko Manabe's goal with 2:59 remaining.

Cowley falls to 7-2-3 in the Jayhawk Conference, six points behind conference-leading Hutchinson Community College (9-1-3). Butler (6-5-5) is now 5-5-3 in conference play.

On Wednesday, Butler would lead 2-0 thanks to first-half goals from Emma Kolbe and Giselle Nash. However, Cowley would score two goals in the final five minutes of the opening half to tie the game at 2-2.

"We made a couple of mistakes in the first half, and Butler scored on both opportunities," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said. "I was happy with how the team came back to close the half."

The first-half goals for the Lady Tigers came from Fenja Leibner and Sara Espinosa. The goals were the second of the season for both players.

Cowley continued to pressure Butler in the second half and dominated possession as they out-shot Butler 37-9. Lady Grizzly goalkeeper Carla Apodaca came up huge for the visitors as she stopped 14 of the Tigers' 16 shots on goal.

The score would remain tied until Manabe was able to break through for the lone goal of the second half.

"Once again, we created several opportunities but could not finish them, and a mishap by us allowed Butler to score the winning goal," dos Santos said.

Cowley will attempt to get back in the win column when they play at Coffeyville on Saturday at 5 p.m. The Red Ravens (4-10) have dropped six straight conference games and lost at Cowley by a score of 2-1 on September 13.

"We need to regroup and get a win at Coffeyville," dos Santos said.

Following the game against Coffeyville, the Lady Tigers will wrap up the regular season by playing the top three teams in the conference that have a combined record of 31-5-7.