No. 20 Cougars survive and advance to Region VI semifinals

Normally a two goal lead would feel relatively safe but thanks to a 45mph wind Sunday at the Cougar Soccer/Track Complex, the No. 20 Barton Community College men's soccer held on for a 2-1 win over Neosho County Community College in first round play of the Region VI playoffs.  Crowned co-champions of the Jayhawk Conference last week, the region's second seeded Cougars improved to 11-4-1 on the season and advance to Thursday's 6:30 p.m. semifinal game at Topeka's Hummer Sports Complex against the 11-8-0 Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds.  Top seeded Coffeyville Community College will play the 4:00 p.m. semifinal against 12-6-0 Johnson County Community College with the championship game slated at 12:00 p.m. Friday.

In a tale of halves, Barton built a 2-0 halftime lead with the advantage of having the wind at their backs.  Christopher Hogg gave the Cougars the early lead just 4:11 into the contest on his thirty-yard free kick.  Shaping the ball with the wind, Hogg's kick caromed off the Neosho keeper Gurjinder Brar's fingertips to trickle into goal.  Barton added to its lead at the 29:58 mark as defender Dinafor Kori played a long ball from midfield to the deep right corner to Mariano Gelso.  After settling the pass Gelso maneuvered around the defender then blasted a rocket past Brar for the 2-0 lead.

Flipping sides for second half action, the Panthers cut the deficit in half 9:13 into the second frame.  Nelson Landaverde stole an errant Barton pass then dribbled through two Cougar defenders to fire past the diving Mauricio Vargas to the far post.

Barton outshot the Panthers 17-9 in the contest with Barton launching ten on goal while Neosho having eight.  Each keeper recorded six saves against the wind as Barton was more the attacker throughout the match nearly matching Neosho's second half total despite having the wind disadvantage.  

The Cougars will now face Cloud County, a team it beat in a hard fought 2-0 victory back on September 12 in Concordia.  Barton and Cloud County last met in the Region VI semifinals in 2011 when the T-birds won 4-0 and went on to win the NJCAA title.