Lady Tigers battle conference-leading Barton to another 1-1 tie

In a battle of ranked teams, the No. 17-ranked Cowley College women's soccer team got a goal from Sara Espinosa in the first five minutes of its home game against seventh-ranked Barton Community College played Wednesday at the Mark A. Phillips Athletic Complex. However, the Cougars would score with only 4:40 remaining to play as the teams battled to a 1-1 tie for the second time this season.

Cowley (8-2-4) remains in fourth place in the ultra-competitive Jayhawk Conference, while Barton (10-1-3) moved three points in front of Hutchinson for first place in the conference.

Espinosa's goal came when she headed in a corner kick from Nanaka Inaba. The goal was the third of the season for Espinosa, while the assist for Inaba was her team-leading seventh of the season.

It appeared that Espinosa's goal might hold up as the game-winner as neither team scored again until Barton's Adna Mahdi scored off an assist from Leticia Silva. The goal by Mahdi was her first of the season.

"It was frustrating to tie because our girls battled hard from the get go," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said. "It is deflating to know we could have finished with a win against a good Barton team."

Instead the result was the same as when the teams met in Great Bend on September 16.

Cowley goalkeeper Kanon Dehama and Barton keeper Mio Tanaka each recorded five saves in the tie.

The Lady Tigers are just 3-2-2 at home, but have yet to lose a road game this season as they are 5-0-2 on the road. They will put their unbeaten road mark to the test when they play at 16^th-ranked Kansas City Kansas Community College Saturday at 5 p.m.

"We have got to regroup and embrace the challenge of playing another ranked opponent when we travel to KCK," dos Santos said.

Photo Credit: Aigiza Nasyrova