Tiger soccer team knocks off arch rival Barton County 4-1

In what has become one of the better rivalries in the Jayhawk Conference, the No. 6-ranked Cowley College men's soccer team defeated Barton County 4-1 Wednesday in Great Bend, KS.

After dropping two of three games against Barton County a season ago, the Tigers played their game on Wednesday and dominated from the early going. Cowley's Masaya Sekiguchi scored off an assist from Takeru Moriyama with just over six minutes gone by. Caique Trivelato would add an unassisted goal less than nine minutes later as Cowley led 2-0 only 15 minutes into the game.

"Masaya's first goal was huge for us, and Caique's goal gave us some room to breathe," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said.

Sekiguchi would add his second goal of the game in the opening two minutes of the second half, and following a goal by Barton's Tomas Quintana, Cowley would put the game away thanks to Trivelato's 10^th goal of the season. The goal by Trivelato was assisted by Sekiguchi.

"We didn't feel revenge in beating Barton because we feel it is a healthy rivalry," Cowley head coach Ruy Vaz said. "They have a very solid team and put up a great fight, so it felt good to go there and control the game."

Cowley is now 9-0 overall and 5-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Western Division, while Barton falls to 7-5 overall and 4-3 in the Jayhawk West.

Vaz praised the play of Shunnosuke Nakajima, who played three positions in the win.

"He always delivers for us and does whatever he is asked," Vaz said.

The Tigers will look to remain unbeaten when they play at Johnson County Monday at 4 p.m. in Overland Park, KS. The Cavaliers are 5-4 overall, but 0-4 in the conference.

"Our conference is competitive, every opponent presents obstacles we have to overcome," Vaz said.