Lady Tiger soccer team earns first-ever win over Hutchinson

The No. 12-ranked Cowley College women's soccer team got a first-half goal from sophomore Natalia Lima and made the lead stand the rest of the way while defeating Hutchinson Community College for the first time in the history of the program Wednesday at the Salthawk Sports Complex in Hutchinson, KS. The 1-0 victory clinched at least a share of the Lady Tigers' second straight conference title.

Cowley, winners of six games in a row, is now 9-1-1 on the season. The loss drops Hutchinson's record to 5-3-2.

"I am so proud of the effort our girls played with and to beat a team like Hutch at their place," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said.

Lady Tiger sophomore Natalia Lima, who was coming off a hat-trick in Cowley's previous outing, received a pass from Lucia Fernandez and beat Hutchinson goalkeeper Kambrian Colborn for the game's only goal with 23:38 to play in the first half.

The goal was the team-leading eighth of the season for Lima.

"We had several other scoring opportunities and were attacking from all over the field," Dos Santos said.

Cowley out-shot Hutchinson 22-4 and defeated the Lady Blue Dragons for the first time in 14 tries. The teams did battle to a tie earlier in the season.

"Hutchinson could not get through our defense," Dos Santos said.

Needing to win one more conference game to win the conference title outright, the Lady Tigers will play at Coffeyville Saturday at 4 p.m. The Red Ravens are 7-3 on the season.

"We have some extra motivation these next two games to try and win the conference title outright," Dos Santos said.