Lady Tigers win in PK’s, advance to second straight national tournament
Lady Tigers win in PK's, advance to second straight national tournament
Continuing to defy the odds all season long, the fourth-seeded Cowley College women's soccer team completed its run through the Region VI/Plains District Tournament with a win over third-seeded Hutchinson Community College on Saturday in Overland Park in a championship game that came down to penalty kicks.
The Lady Tigers (11-5-3) won all three games at the district tournament to advance to the national tournament for the second straight year.
"I always believed we had the talent to do it, and I am so proud of the girls for believing in themselves," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said.
On Saturday, Cowley got the scoring started first as Hina Suzuki scored her 19th goal of the season off an assist from Evellyn Borges.
After Hutchinson tied the game on a goal by Kaitlin Edwards with 19:21 left in the first half, Borges regained the lead for the Lady Tigers only four minutes later by scoring on a free-kick from about 20 yards out. The goal for Borges was her seventh of the season to go along with a team-high 10 assists.
The score would remain 2-1 before Hutchinson benefitted from a foul called on Cowley in the penalty box with 21:04 remaining in regulation. Lady Tiger goalkeeper Marin Peoples saved the Blue Dragons' Haley Rogers' penalty kick, but the rebound rolled back to Rogers, who sent a shot into an empty net for the game-tying goal.
Neither team would score again in regulation, as the game would be decided on penalty kicks.
Cowley led 3-2 after four shot attempts as Peoples came up with two huge saves.
"Marin had a phenomenal performance in goal," dos Santos said.
Needing one more goal to clinch the win, Lady Tiger sophomore Himari Sato came through with the game-winning goal as she sent the Cowley players storming onto the field to celebrate a second straight district title.
Cowley will now await to see who they will play at the NJCAA Division I National Soccer Championships on November 17-23 at the SCHEELS Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, KS.
"We need to keep the mindset that we can compete with anybody," dos Santos said. "I believe our conference has prepared us for the teams we will see at the national tournament. I am so happy for the girls. They wanted to follow in the footsteps of last year's team and make it back to nationals."