The Hesston College women’s soccer team fell 5-1 to #14 ranked Hutchinson Community College on Friday night. Facing their toughest opponent on the season, the Larks were challenged by the Blue Dragons athleticism.
Hutchinson stormed out to a quick 2-0 lead and added a goal in the 44th minute to take a 3-0 advantage at halftime. The Blue Dragons controlled the tempo of the match and were able to capitalize on scoring opportunities in the first half. The Larks made some adjustments at the break and showed more fight in the second half, being outscored 2-1.
Hesston College avoided the shutout getting on the board courtesy of a goal from sophomore Allison Ebersole (Boulder, Colo.) with only minutes to go in the game. Sophomore Mika Matsuda led the larks with four shots. The win pushes the Blue Dragons to 12-1 on the season. The loss is only the second on the season for Hesston College, which sees their record dip to 10-2.
Okuda goal sets up overtime thriller
The women’s soccer team got back to their winning ways, coming from behind to defeat the Dodge City Conquistadors 4-3 in double overtime on Saturday night.
Freshman Miho Okuda (Japan) scored a long range goal with only two minutes left to send the match into overtime. “It was big for us to come back from behind and score late on a beautiful goal by Miho and then to win the game with one minute left,“ Head Coach Bryan Kehr said following the match. Sophomore scoring leader Allison Ebersole added two more for the record book, scoring in the 9th and 29th minutes to give the larks a 2-1 lead only to see Dodge City equalize before halftime.
The second half began with a quick goal from the Conqs to get their first and only lead at 3-2. Hesston piled on possessions and chances on goal, finally scoring with a minute to go in regulation to force overtime. Larks net minder Cassidy Bontrager thwarted several Dodge City attacks late in the second overtime before a Miho Okuda shot from the right side found the net, giving Hesston the with with 1:30 remaining.
“Playing on back to back nights both teams had tired legs, but both teams played with a lot of grit and determination. This game was pretty huge in terms of region standings. One of our goals is to host a home playoff game for the first time, and this keeps us on track to do that,” Kehr said.
Women’s soccer will have a shot at revenge Wednesday Oct. 12 when they travel to Hutchinson CC to take on the #14 Blue Dragons. Kickoff is 4 p.m.