By Steve Carpenter
Hutchinson Community College Sports Information Director

Perhaps the only thing that was guarded more tightly than Hutchinson Community College women's soccer forward Hadlie Lowe during her freshman season was the gold reserve at Fort Knox.

Lowe was the 2021 Blue Dragon women's soccer team's only true scoring threat, and it didn't take long for opponents to figure that out.

The forward from Wichita saw double-team after double-team marking her up, trying to make life miserable for the Kansas high school All-State player from Kapaun-Mt. Carmel.

"There was no secret for us last year that if Hadlie doesn't score, Hutch doesn't score," Blue Dragon head coach Sammy Lane said about Lowe. "Teams were taking two players and just marked her up all over the field."

And yet, a very determined Lowe produced numbers that earned her the 2021 Jayhawk West Player of the Year honors.

"For her to produce the numbers she did with that happening, she deserved to be the Player of the Year," Lane said.

Lowe scored 18 goals and had three assists for a 39-point season. She led the NJCAA in game-winning goals with eight. The Blue Dragons' record in 2021 was 8-6-1.

"A lot of pressure was put on me," Lowe said. "It was hard at times because I felt like I was going side to side and up and back making those runs. Sammy is yelling 'play the ball to Hadlie.' Goals are nice, but I love getting the assist, too, and giving other people their chance."

Despite the constant attention from opposing teams' fastest defenders, Lowe never stopped pushing forward.

"Hadlie looks at getting double teamed as a compliment to her and she's going to try doubly hard to beat them," Lane said.

The Blue Dragon forward scored at least a point in 10 of 15 games played last year, scoring goals in 10 games. She had four hat tricks last season Dodge City twice, Kansas City and Neosho County.

And through all of that, Lowe is easily her own harshest critic.

"I think I never really gave my team as much credit as I needed to last season," Lowe said. "It felt like I was the only one scoring goals. I focused on that more, but I didn't focus on the fact that (my teammates) didn't let any goals in or defended well.

"I should have given them more credit. I messed up on that."

Now the 2022 season is set to begin Friday against Western Nebraska on a neutral field in Sterling, Colorado.

Driven as she ever was, Lowe embarks on her sophomore season with the Blue Dragons knowing full well what's coming from the opposition defensively.

Production aside, Lowe has one goal for the 2022 Blue Dragons.

"Our team chemistry needs to be better this year," said Lowe, an exercise science major. "This year, I just want us to be a team. I want to push everyone to work hard.

"Team-wise, we lost our heads a lot last season. We didn't keep pushing when we got down. It was harder for us to get back up because not everybody had the same mindset to try as hard as we could no matter what the score was. This year we will be a lot better at."

For Lane, looking back at the 2021 season, he was sure Lowe felt a level of frustration, but also knows his sophomore forward is more determined than ever to push herself and her team to excel, no matter the odds.

"One of the things that I admire about her is that she just kept going last year. "She led the nation in game-winning goals on a team that didn't score a lot of goals. She just kept trying as hard as she could."