Sixth-ranked Barton hands Tiger men’s soccer team first home defeat

The 10^th-ranked Cowley College men's soccer team had its hopes of a conference title take a damaging blow with a 2-1 loss against sixth-ranked Barton Community College Wednesday at the Mark A. Phillips Athletic Complex.

Barton (12-1-3) swept the season series and are now 7-1-2 in the conference, while Cowley (11-4) dropped its third straight game and are now 7-4 in conference play.

The Cougars got the scoring started early in Wednesday's contest as Lucas Constante scored his 10^th goal of the season off an assist from Loic Kanku only 3:52 into the contest. Constante would add his second goal of the game and 11^th of the season with 8:46 remaining in the opening half.

"We did not have the right intensity from the beginning, and it seems that we felt the pressure of an important game," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said.

Cowley would continue to battle in the second half and cut its deficit in half thanks to Sora Funakoshi scoring his team-leading 10^th goal of the season with 30:36 left to play.

The Tigers were unable to put another shot on goal in the final 30 minutes as Barton held on for the 2-1 win. Cowley is now 8-1 at home.

"This one is a tough one to take, but it was well deserved," Vaz said. "We are a young team, and it's a lesson learned."

Kamy Ndione stopped five of the seven shots he faced in defeat.

The Tigers will wrap up the regular season by playing at Kansas City Kansas Community College on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. The Blue Devils (5-4-3) have won two straight conference games and are 4-3-3 in the conference.

"Now it's time to focus on Kansas City, which will also be tough," Vaz said.

Photo Credit: Aigiza Nasyrova