PK rebound spoils Lady Cougars' season opener #GoBarton

The Barton Community College women's soccer team was dealt a heartbreaking loss at the Cougar Soccer Complex to open the 2019 campaign Thursday afternoon as the Cougars were clipped 2-1 in overtime by NAIA member Central Christian College.

Barton grabbed an early lead coming at the 15:44 mark as freshman Kurumi Arakawa launched Domenica Pena's pass just inside the eighteen to the upper-90 far post for her first collegiate goal.

Nine minutes later another eighteen yard shot found the frame, this time from Central Christian's Jordan Meier in sending the equalizer just over the outstretched hands of goalkeeper Itzel Diaz to skim the crossbar and rattle the net.

Having the task of replacing one of the most prolific offenses from a year ago, the Barton attack struggled at times going sixteen minutes without firing a shot.

After being held to just three first half shots, the Cougars offense seemed to have discovered an attack early in the second half firing three shots in the first eight minutes but were unable to find the net.

Barton's Diaz, who thwarted six shots on frame during the afternoon, snuffed out Alexa Riddle's attempt from the left wing in the 81st minute keeping the match deadlocked for the eventual extra time.

Five minutes into the overtime, the Tigers created a breakaway forcing Lucero to come out of the goal, drawing contact on the outer edge of the box resulting in a foul to send Jordan Meier to the 12-yard penalty spot. Diaz held the line reading the kick perfectly to make a phenomenal full laid-out blocking save but unfortunately the Cougars defense was caught off guard as the rebound shot found the open foot of Mariah Godinez for the hammered in 2-1 golden goal winner.

The Cougars will look to put the learning experience behind them as Barton heads to Council Bluffs, Iowa, for a pair of weekend games beginning on Saturday versus Western Nebraska Community College before taking on host No. 3 ranked Iowa Western Community College on Sunday.