Cougars stay in title hunt with double overtime draw against Cloud County #GoBarton
Cougars stay in title hunt with double overtime draw against Cloud County.
In a winner-take-all scenario Wednesday for the Jayhawk West crown, neither the Barton Community College nor Cloud County Community College men's soccer teams could rattle the nets as the teams battled to a double-overtime scoreless draw at the Cougar Soccer Complex.
The result kept Barton in control of their destiny heading into Saturday's regular season finale at Northwest Kansas Technical College as a victory would secure the 4th ranked Cougars their first conference title since 2013. A loss or tie would hand the T-birds their third straight title.
Barton now stands at 9-0-2 in conference play and 13-1-2 overall with Cloud County concluding their conference season at 10-1-1 and 11-4-1 heading into a non-conference game to wind up the schedule.
It won't go down as one of the more dynamic games in the history of the rivalry, but for those witnessing the action on the pitch, the draw will be known as one of the best all-around played in the twenty-nine game series.
Each team had its chances with seven shots on frame from both sides but clutch goalkeeping by Barton's Felipe Baeza and Cloud County's Charles Albuquerque kept the sheet clean.
Two particular plays on the highlight reel came with 17 minutes remaining when Baeza rejected a 1v1 while Albuquerque's marque stoppage came in the first two minutes of double overtime turning back a pair of bang-bang strikes from Tevin Rochester and Victor Gonzalez. The Cougars had another golden opportunity late in the contest but Gonzalez' attempt sailed just above the crossbar.