KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Using three first-half goals to build a lead and take any potential drama out of the final result, the Cowley College women’s soccer team secured their second-straight NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Soccer Plains District Tournament Title with a dominant 3-0 shutout win over Hutchinson Community College at the Kansas City Kansas Community College Soccer Field in Kansas City, Kansas on Saturday, November 8th.

Keeping their unbeaten record alive, the Tigers improved to 14-0-4 on the season while capping off a run that saw them outscore Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference foes 12-0 across three postseason matches. The Tigers have allowed just two goals since October 18th, outscoring opponents 57-11 this season and winning nine of their 14 matches by virtue of shutout.

Wasting little time in putting pressure on the Blue Dragon defense, Cowley showed from the opening whistle who the more aggressive team was by putting multiple shots up in the first 10 minutes of the match. After an early goalie change by HCC due to an injury, Cowley continued to keep the ball on the Blue Dragon side of the field and put pressure on the defense with a team save for Hutchinson keeping the game scoreless through the opening 12 minutes. Two minutes later, however, the Tigers found the back of the net as a corner kick from Riko Saito was placed perfectly for Louyse Cristine to score fourth goal of the season and put the Tigers up 1-0 with 32:09 left in the first half. Shots continued to be peppered by Cowley over the ensuing eight minutes before the Tigers doubled their lead as a shot from the left side of the box by Saki Sanno was turned away by Hutchinson’s Rylee Loague before ending up at the feet of Sara Cortes who blasted home the goal to make things 2-0 with just under 24 minutes left in the first half. Cowley added a third goal in the 33rd minute as Sophie Knaab redirected a shot from Cortes to net her fourth goal of the year as the constant pressure from the Tigers was having a direct impact on the Blue Dragon defense.

Things slowed down over the final 12 minutes of the first half, with just one additional shot taking place by Hutchinson in the final 1:05 of the half before seeing things pick right back in the second half with the Tigers again finding open opportunities to place shots on target and keep the Blue Dragons from finding any offensive rhythm. Able to be more selective with their offensive runs, Cowley allowed the game to become more back and forth with possession as Hutchinson was forced to try and play more offensively minded and put pressure on Tiger goalkeeper Julia Suelly. Despite putting three shots on goal in the span of six minutes, the Blue Dragons were turned away each time as time began to wind down and make a comeback less and less likely. The final 10 minutes of the contest saw both teams put shots on target, but once again not lead to any additional scoring as the Blue Dragons were shutout for just the second time in 20 matches.

Putting up 21 total shots, Cowley forced Hutchinson goalie Loague to make six saves on the nine shots put on goal while Suelly was perfect on the opposite end by making clean saves on all three shots on goal put up by the Blue Dragons. The Tigers did not concede a corner kick while earning six of their own corners, and saw three different players record four shots each (Sanno, Camille Carniglia, and Cortes).

The 2025 NJCAA Division 1 Women’s Soccer National Tournament is scheduled to take place November 16-22 at Advance Soccer Complex in Enid, Oklahoma with the official tournament seeding set to be revealed at 5 PM on Tuesday, November 11th. Eight district tournament winners who received automatic bids into the tournament along with four teams who will receive at-large berths will be seeded and broken into four pools with each team playing two games in pool play over the first three days of action. The winner of the four pools will then advance to the National Semifinals with the National Championship match scheduled for Saturday, November 22nd.