The 11th ranked Barton Community College men's team set the tone early in netting a pair of first half goals Saturday at the Cougar Soccer Complex to knock 3rd ranked Cowley College from the unbeaten with a 3-1 victory.
The win improves Barton to 3-0-1 in conference play and 6-0-2 on the year while Cowley drops to 4-1-0 and 7-1-0 overall.
Barton's next contest comes Wednesday with a 6:00 p.m. kick at Garden City Community College followed by a Saturday 3:00 p.m. kick at Seward County Community College.
Maxence Voinier's brace led the Cougars to a 2-0 halftime lead, scoring just 1:20 into the contest and again with 26:69 left in first half play.
Lucas Constante, who would later score the Cougars' final goal of the game, set up the early netter by delivering a pin-point cross finding Voinier on the back side for a far post strike.
Barton pressured the Tigers the entire first half, one of the forced turnovers resulting in Voinier's second goal of the day as the freshman outdueled multiple defenders before burying his 3rd of the season.
Cowley became the aggressors in the final 45-minutes, outshooting the Cougars 12-4 and creating a 4-1 advantage in corner kicks. The aggression led to the Tigers' being issued a penalty kick with 24:48 remaining with Sora Funakoshi able to sneak one past the Cougars' Dennis Bottcher's knock down of the delivery but the ball trickled past the score line cutting the deficit in half.
Netting the game winner last season in Barton's 1-0 win over the also then No. 3 ranked Tigers, Constante provided the Cougars a relieving insurance goal with just 3:14 left on Saturday. An errant Cowley pass led Constante outracing the defense, maneuvering into firing position to beat the Tiger keeper Jona Hellingrath near post in the 1v1 situation for his 2nd bell ringer of the year.
Bottcher improved to 4-0-2 in net for the Cougars, recording four saves on the afternoon including three in second half action.
Series Notes:
- Barton has won the last two matches at home with the Tigers ranked No. 3 while Cowley has won the last two meetings on the Tigers' home turf
- Barton leads the series at home 6-1-1
- Barton leads the overall series 9-4-1