Hutchinson CC Sports Information
ARKANSAS CITY – Needing a top defensive effort against one of the top scorers in the Jayhawk Conference, the Hutchinson Community College women' soccer team did just that on Wednesday.
Natalia Lima did score a goal, but the Blue Dragons scored the equalizer on an Aimee Maher penalty kick. The Blue Dragons and Cowley Tigers played the final 90 minutes scoreless and settled for a 1-1 draw at Cowley's Tiger Stadium.
The Blue Dragons are now 2-1-2 (8 points) through five KJCCC matches. Cowley is now 3-1-1 (10 points). Hutchinson will play host to Coffeyville at 2 p.m. on Saturday at the Salthawk Sports Complex.
The one and only time Lima broke down the Dragon defense came in the 10th minute when Harlie Findley played a long ball into space just outside the penalty box that Lima chased down and beat Hutch keeper Kambrian Colborn from 10 yards out for a 1-0 lead with 36:21 to play in the first half.
After that, Lima was marked up all game long by Dragon defender Cheyenne Busker and several other back-line teammates who doubled and sometimes tripled up the Cowley forward. The defensive strategy limited Lima to just one more shot for the remainder of the game.
About 15 minutes later, sophomore Esther Kahayu was tackled from behind inside the penalty area and the Blue Dragons were awarded a penalty kick. Maier hammered home the PK in the upper right hand former of the goal past Cowley keeper Makayla Furguharson to tie the match at 1-1 with 19:40 to play in the first half.
Going against a northwest 20 mph wind in the second half, the Blue Dragons still had good moments of possession. The Dragons missed on five corner kicks in the second half and overtime.
Karhayu was extremely active for the Blue Dragons. She had a team-high two shots on goal. Karhayu created three different chances in front of the Cowley goal, two in overtime that the Dragons weren't able to cash in on.
Cowley outshout the Blue Dragons 15-8. Colborn came up with seven saves for Hutchinson. Furguharson had four saves for the Tigers.