Lady Tigers upset second-seeded Seminole State 4-1 in national tourney opener

After shaking off the nerves of playing in the program's first-ever game at the national tournament, the No. 11-seeded Cowley College women's soccer team showed they belonged amongst the nation's best teams by defeating second-seeded Seminole State College (OK) 4-1 Sunday afternoon at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, KS.

The victory improves Cowley's record to 13-3-4, while the loss was the first of the season for the Trojans as they are now 19-1-1.

"I am so happy for these girls and so proud of how they accepted the challenge," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said. "I challenged them and said is this it, just making it to the national tournament, and they said NO. They walked the talk and performed greatly."

A miscue in the Tigers' back half allowed Seminole's Tatum Talall to score just over four minutes into the game. However, Cowley would answer just four minutes later on a goal by Lucia Rivas. Rivas blasted the shot from 30-plus yards out to tie the game at 1-1.

The goal by Rivas was her team-leading 10^th of the season.

Both teams had additional scoring opportunities in the opening half, but the score would remain tied 1-1 at the end of the first half, with Seminole State out-shooting the Lady Tigers 5-4 over the first 45 minutes of play.

After halftime, Seminole State came out as the aggressor, placing five shots on goal in the first 10 minutes of the second half. Cowley goalkeeper Kanon Dehama was up for the challenge as she thwarted each of the Trojans' scoring chances.

With the game still tied at 1-1, the Lady Tigers sent a ball ahead to freshman Evelyn Borges, who scored her third goal of the season to give the Lady Tigers a 2-1 lead with 31 minutes remaining.

Cowley was not done there as sophomore Lea Evin rocketed in a shot from 25 yards out to increase the Tigers' lead to 3-1 with 25:44 remaining. Only three minutes later, Nanaka Inaba scored the third goal in six minutes and the fourth unanswered for the Lady Tigers.

The goals were the fifth of the season for Evin and sixth for Inaba.

The Lady Tigers would make the lead stand up as they won their fifth game in a row. Cowley will now prepare to play No. 7-seed Salt Lake Community College on Monday at 12:30 p.m. with a chance to advance to the semifinals of the national tournament.

"We need to try to recover and play again within 24 hours against another solid opponent," dos Santos said.