No. 3-ranked Tiger soccer team finishes off unbeaten regular season

The No. 3-ranked Cowley College men's soccer team overcame an early deficit in its home game against Barton Community College on Saturday as the Tigers scored two goals in a span of 91 seconds and then added a final goal with 19:22 remaining to ice the 3-1 win over the visiting Cougars. The victory caps an unbeaten regular season for the Tigers as they improve to 14-0 overall and 10-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Western Division.

"Barton is always a tough team and very physical," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. "I was happy that we were able to control the game for the most part, but we need to do a better job of making things happen before we face adversity."

The Cougars netted Saturday's first goal as Tajay Grant scored to put Barton up 1-0 with 13:23 left in the opening half.

The goal seemed to awaken Cowley as the Tigers sent relentless attacks towards goal the next 10 minutes before scoring twice in 91 seconds for a 2-1 advantage.

Following the game-tying goal by Tensei Sakaue, his first of the year, Masaya Sekiguchi quickly put the Tigers in front as Sakaue curled a cross to the far side where it struck the far post, caromed back towards Sekiguchi who rebounded the shot past Cougar goalkeeper Felipe Ramos. The goal was the seventh of the season for Sekiguchi.

The score would remain 2-1 until 15 minutes left, when Yuzuki Motohashi scored off an assist from Gabriel Verona to put the game away. The goal was the third of the season for Motohashi.

"Yuzuki is a center-back that has the ability to score goals," Vaz said. "I like my defenders having the ability to attack."

Barton finishes the regular season with a record of 8-7 overall and 5-5 in the Jayhawk West.

Cowley earns the top-seed in the region tournament and will host Johnson County Monday at 7 p.m. The Cavaliers (7-9) are much better than their record indicates as seven of its nine defeats have come by one goal, including a 1-0 overtime loss to Cowley back on October 4.

"Now that it is the post-season everyone's record is the same at 0-0," Vaz said. "We need to play our game and take care of business the best we can."