The 14th ranked Barton Community College women's soccer team netted the equalizer with eight minutes to play Saturday at the Cougar Soccer Complex to earn a 1-1 draw hosting 7th ranked Butler Community College.
The result amongst two of the KJCCC powers and rematch of the 2022 District title classic match leaves the Cougars at 1-0-1 in conference play and on the season while Butler bounces back from a home conference defeat to improve to 0-1-1 and 0-1-2 overall.
Barton next heads to Coffeyville Community College for a Wednesday 4:00 p.m. kick in taking on the Red Ravens' team that knocked off Butler 1-0 in El Dorado last Wednesday. The Cougars then have 10 days away from competition before hosting Kansas City Kansas Community College on Saturday, September 9, in a 3:00 p.m. kick.
A 15-25mph north wind favored each offense, Butler taking advantage in the first half to outshoot Barton 8-4 overall and 7-2 on frame including taking the lead with 27:09 left before intermission.
The Grizzlies' Rose Loyle launched a shot from the left wing that was rejected by the Cougars' Mio Tanaka but the rebound was left untouched until Sakiko Manabe kicked in the go-ahead goal.
Flipping directions for second half play, Butler was first to launch an attack in creating an early chance to increase their lead but the attempt was blocked by the Cougar defense.
From there Barton launched two more shots than Butler in second half action, including a plus-2 in shots on frame in finally netting the gridlock goal with just 8:02 remaining.
Similar to Butler's scoring play, Barton also netted a rebound shot as Rin Sato's strike was rejected by the Grizzlies' Carla Apodaca but Aya Saiki's heads up movement towards the goal quickly netted the loose ball for the game equalizer on her second goal of the year.
The Grizzlies led the stat line outshooting Barton 15-12 including an 8-6 edge between the pipes.
Tanaka made six saves in first half action with another in the final 45-minutes in moving to 1-0-1 on the year while Apodaca's five total saves moves to 0-1-2 in goal.
Game Notes:
- Rin Sato has an assist in Barton's first two games to bring her career total to 14 in moving within one of Mariana Poveda's 10th place 15 assists (2012-13) in program history
- Aya Saiki has a goal in each of Barton's first two games to bring her career total to 16 in moving into 15th place of program history.
Series Notes:
- The last three meetings have been a one-run margin, a 5-4 shootout decision, and a tie
- Butler leads the overall series 22-5-2 including 1-9-1 at Barton
- Barton's lone home win in the series was a 4-3 victory on October 17, 2009
- Since Barton's victory, Butler is 4-0-1 on the Cougars' home turf