Lady Tiger soccer team wins 3-2 thriller over Garden City

Playing its first game of the season Sunday at the Mark A. Phillips Athletic Complex in Arkansas City, the Cowley College women's soccer team trailed Garden City Community College 2-0 midway through the first half. Instead of folding, the Lady Tigers fought back and eventually won 3-2 on Sara Espinosa's go-ahead goal with 7:39 remaining.

On Sunday, the Lady Broncbusters grabbed the early lead thanks to Noelie Prat scoring off a corner kick from Jessica Newton just a little more than two minutes into the contest. Twenty minutes later, Garden City's lead would grow to 2-0 when Samantha Medina sent a shot past Lady Tiger goalkeeper Marin Peoples.

Cowley did not hang their head in defeat; instead, the Lady Tigers got one of the goals back in the 29th minute when Lea Evin assisted on a goal by Lucia Rivas.

Garden City would go into halftime with the 2-1 lead. However, Cowley needed just 26 seconds into the second half to tie the game up as sophomore Nanaka Inaba scored to knot the game at 2-2.

The game would remain deadlocked until the 83^rd minute when Garden City's Newton was called for a yellow card, giving the Tigers a free kick from about 30 yards out. Nanaka sent the free kick into the box, where Espinosa corralled the deflection and scored the game-winning goal.

"It was great to start with a win, without any doubt," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said. "Our players battled through a bad first half in the game but came out more determined in the second half. We were able to tie the game early, which gave us more confidence to impose our game. We were then able to create opportunities and capitalize on the winning goal."

Cowley will now travel to play at Seward County (0-2) Wednesday at 6 p.m.