Barton hands Tiger men’s soccer team their first defeat

After allowing only two goals in its first seven games, the No. 3-ranked Cowley College men's soccer team allowed two goals in the first 18 minutes of its game at No. 11-ranked Barton Community College on Saturday and could not recover in the 3-1 defeat.

The loss was the first of the season for the Tigers, who are now 7-1 overall and 4-1 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"Saturday's game was determined in the first 18 minutes," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. "After that, we were dominant but never dangerous."

Barton (6-0-2) improves its record to 3-0-1 in conference play as they opened the scoring on Saturday with a goal by Maxence Voinier only 1:20 into the contest. Voinier would add a second goal with 26:29 left in the first half.

Cowley became the aggressor in the second half, outshooting the Cougars 12-4. The Tigers would pull within 2-1 as Sora Funakoshi scored on a penalty kick with 24:48 left to play. The goal by Funakoshi was his team-leading fifth of the season.

A mistake in Cowley's back half of the field resulted in Barton's Lucas Constante scoring an insurance goal for the Cougars with just over three minutes remaining.

Cowley out-shot Barton 16-12 and produced more corner kicks than the Cougars (4-3) but came up short on the scoreboard. Cowley goalkeeper Jona Hellingrath allowed his first three goals of the season after recording shutouts in his previous three appearances.

The Tigers will attempt to start a new win streak when they host Kansas City Kansas Community College on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils are 2-2-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the conference.

"Kansas City is always a tough opponent," Vaz said. "We need to see a positive response from our guys."

Photo Provided by Aigiza Nasyrova