Staying atop the Jayhawk Conference standings, the Barton Community College men's soccer team knocked off Johnson County Community College 3-1 Saturday in Overland Park, Kansas. The Cougars built a 3-0 lead only to surrender a late penalty kick goal in winning their seventh straight against the Cavaliers. Barton remains on top of the conference standings at 8-1-0 and improve to 9-3-1 while Johnson County slips to 5-3-0 in conference and 9-5-0 overall. Barton will step away from conference play on Wednesday for the first of two remaining home games as Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa comes to the Cougar Soccer Complex for a 4:00 p.m. matchup. The Cougars' final regular season home contest will come three days later on Saturday against Pratt Community College.
Juan Correa gave Barton a 1-0 lead midway through the first half shaping a free kick over the Cavalier defensive wall just inside the near post past Johnson goalkeeper Sam Sizemore.
Carrying the one goal lead into the second half, the Cougars added an insurance goal five minutes into the second period as Carter Way's forward pass found Jovanny Bonilla who's one-touch through ball hit Ebu Camara in stride up the left side. Camara, who would beat Johnson's second half goalkeeper Guillermo Aguilar on the far post, scored his thirtieth career goal tying him for fourth place in the Barton history books with Marcelo Carminatti's mark set in the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Scoring eighteen goals his freshman season, Camara is just four away from the top spot of Kevin Ellis' mark achieved during the 2009 and 2010 seasons.
Putting the nail in the coffin and scoring his second goal of the day, Correa blasted a penalty kick past Aguillar with 27:26 to play giving the Cougars a safe three goal lead.
A called penalty just inside the 18' against Mariano Gelso on Johnson County's Bryce McClanahan set up Hugh Ebb's shutout breaker on the penalty kick with 7:52 remaining. Mauricio Vargas, who made nine goal saves in the contest including numerous spectacular saves, lost on his bid to move into a third place tie on the Barton all-time goalkeeper shutout list as Ebb's blast found the back of the net.
With one conference game remaining, the Cougars control their own destiny to ensure at least a tie for the Jayhawk crown. The reigning conference champions and winners of the four-of-the-last six titles are tied for the top spot with Coffeyville Community College, a team the Cougars lost to 2-0 early in the conference season. The Red Ravens have two remaining games, the first coming Thursday at Johnson County and then a yet to be determined date with Dodge City Community College.