HutchCC Sports Information

As the Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team opens the second half of the 2017 Jayhawk West season on Wednesday, a pair of teams are right in the Blue Dragons' rear-view mirror in the race for the league title.

One season ago – the first that the Jayhawk Conference split into two divisions – the No. 16-ranked Blue Dragons almost had the conference title locked up by the mid-point of the season. That's hardly the case as the 10-0 Blue Dragons are being shadowed by Northwest Tech and Cloud County.

That makes the remaining seven conference matches big as the Blue Dragons aim to repeat as Jayhawk West champions.

The first of those seven Jayhawk West matchups comes Wednesday as Hutchinson wraps up a long road trip when the Blue Dragons travel to Barton for a 3 p.m. matchup in Great Bend.

Hutchinson and Cloud County are tied for first place in the Jayhawk West with 15 points. The Blue Dragons are 5-0 and Thunderbirds are 5-1. Northwest Tech is 4-1 with a victory over the Thunderbirds. The Dragons own a 2-1 win over the Mavericks and have yet to play Cloud County after last week's game in Concordia had to be postponed until October 23 because of poor field conditions.

That sets up Wednesday where the Blue Dragons, who go after their 17th consecutive conference victory, meets the much-improved Cougars a rematch of a September 9 battle that the Blue Dragons won 6-0.

Since the first Hutchison game, the Cougars are 3-2 and have recharged their offense with 15 goals scored in those five games. Barton shut out Pratt 4-0 on Saturday.

Blue Dragon freshmen Brailey Moeder and Megan Maslak had two goals each in Hutchinson's 6-0 win over the Cougars on September 9. Defensively, the Blue Dragons limited Barton to two shots on goal, both stopped by sophomore goalkeeper Ashley Main.

Wednesday's road trip to Barton will wrap up a span of 16 between home matches. The Blue Dragons return to the Salthawk Sports Complex on Friday against Pratt at 4 p.m.