Hutchinson CC Sports Information
COFFEYVILLE – Staring squarely at a rare three-game losing streak, the Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team had everything going against it heading into the final 9 minutes of regulation play on Saturday at Coffeyville.
The Blue Dragons missed two first-half breakaways, lost a top defensive player to injury late in the first half and despite dominating play in the first 45 minutes, Hutchinson trailed the Red Ravens by a goal at halftime.
The Dragons created a reversal for fortune in a scintillating final 9 minutes with two goals in a 4-minute, 4-second span and then held on to defeat Coffeyville 2-1 at Veterans Memorial Stadium.
Hutchinson improved to 3-4 overall, 2-4 in the Jayhawk West. Coffeyville is 5-2 overall, suffering its first KJCCC loss of the season at 4-1. The Blue Dragons travel to Dodge City on Wednesday.
The Blue Dragons had to play the entire second half without center back Zara Lawless, who collided with Coffeyville's Bianca Rea while both were chasing a loose ball at midfield with 10:38 to play in the first half. That meant midfielder Jordan Crone moved to the back line and helped neutralize the Ravens' strong offensive attack.
Trailing 1-0 with less than 9 minutes remaining in the second half, the Dragons caught a bit of a break and tied the game on an Aimee Maher goal. Maher, who got the ball in front after a deflected Dragon crossing attempt rolled right to her, shot from 13 yards out. As she short, Maher slipped and mis-hit the ball, but Coffeyville keeper Alessandra Thompson had trouble corralling the shot and the ball rolled in for the game-tying goal with 8:45 to play. Maher scored her first goal of the season.
The Dragons stunned the Ravens again just 4:04 later.
Lexi Jack headed a Raven punt to Julia De Souza, who worked her way past midfield and played a pass up the right sideline. Lani Dickinson ran the ball down and with one touch, fed the ball to Hadlie Lowe, who ripped a shot from the right side from 12 yards out into the lower left corner of the goal for a 2-1 Dragon lead with 4:41 to play. Dickinson and De Souza were credited with assists on Lowe's fourth goal of the season.
The Dragons had to survive two free kicks and a corner kick by the Ravens in the final 2:35 of regulation.
The closest call came with 1:57 to play. A Raven direct free kick from the left side about 40 yards out, hit the cross bar and created a goalmouth scramble. A second Coffeyville shot was partially deflected by the shoulder of Emma Scholl and a third was headed for the upper right corner, but Blue Dragon goalkeeper Olivia Felix-Cardona leaped high for the save and fell on the ball.
The comeback win is only the fifth when trailing at halftime in Blue Dragon history. Hutchinson is 5-38-1 when trailing at halftime.
Felix-Cardona was credited with eight saves in the game. The only goal allowed was to Keysli Elias, who scored after Felix-Cardona allowed a rebound from a hard shot by Ashleigh Sweat.