Norshie’s four goals lift Barton to come from behind win over Lady Tiger soccer team

It was a tale of two halves Wednesday in Great Bend, KS, as the No. 12-ranked Cowley College women's soccer team owned the first half and took a 2-0 lead into halftime. However, No. 13-ranked Barton County's Nina Norshie scored four of the Cougars' five second-half goals as Barton County rallied for the 5-3 win.

Barton remains unbeaten in conference play (4-0) while improving to 8-1 overall. Cowley, which has dropped two games in a row, is now 3-2 overall and 0-2 in the conference.

Playing with the wind at its back in the opening half, Cowley got first-half goals from Lea Evin and Gabrielle Oliveira. However, Norshie, the nation's leading scorer, cut Cowley's lead in half when she scored off a penalty kick created by a handball in the box only seven minutes into the second half.

Cowley looked as if they had regained the momentum when Pauline Gockeritz scored to put Cowley ahead 3-1 only four minutes later.

But, 11 minutes later, Norshie scored twice in less than two minutes to tie it up. With Barton outshooting the Lady Tigers 13-3 over the final 45 minutes of play, the Cougars grabbed the lead when Hinata Kojima scored the go-ahead goal on a shot from 45 yards out.

Norshie would provide Barton with an insurance goal, her 29^th of the season, as the Cougars held on for the 5-3 victory.

"It was a disappointing game for us," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said. "We executed as planned in the first half and were able to score and have a good lead against a very good ranked opponent. But, we failed to keep up with the intensity in the second half. We committed several costly mistakes and allowed them to score several goals and take the lead."

Cowley will attempt to earn its first conference win of the season when they play at Kansas City Kansas Community College Saturday at 6 p.m. The Lady Blue Devils are 3-2-1 overall and 2-2 in conference play.

"The players recognize that the type of performance we had against Barton is not ok," dos Santos said. "They have shown they can perform at a higher level. We will regroup and prepare for the matchup against a good KCK team."