COFFEYVILLE, Kan. – The Butler soccer team survived a wild match Sunday afternoon in Coffeyville, outscoring the Red Ravens 7-3 to further strengthen its chances of winning a third-straight Jayhawk Conference championship.
Butler is now 8-0 in KJCCC play and has now beaten each of the other top teams in the conference standings. The Grizzlies have five conference matches left to play but appear to be in the driver's seat as the only conference team still without a loss. Coffeyville drops to 7-2-1 in conference play.
Butler scored three goals in four minutes in the first half, but had to keep the goals coming in the second half to hold off a hard-charging Coffeyville side.
The Grizzlies got on the board first when Morgan Foster chipped the ball over the head of a Coffeyville keeper on an assist from Madison Wedekind in the 20th minute. Two minutes later, Brittany Lawrence headed a ball to Maddie Decker, who made one defender miss then rocketed a ball on the ground that snuck inside the right post just past the arms of the diving keeper.
Then in the 24th minute, Foster beat her defender in the corner and sent the ball across to Yvette Aguilar wo played a quick one-touch inside the right post to make it a 3-0 Butler lead.
The Grizzlies led 3-0 at the half with a defense that had posted six shutout halves in a row dating back to the Barton game on Oct. 3. That scoreless streak was broken just four minutes into the second half, the first of three goals for Coffeyville in the period.
Butler had an answer for each Coffeyville goal, however, and even added another insurance goal late in the contest. Three of those four goals were scored by Morgan Foster.
The first came when a pass from Lawrence put Foster behind the Coffeyville defense for a one-on-one opportunity with the keeper. Foster took a shot that bounced off the keeper's hands and Foster was able to head the deflected ball into the goal to make it 4-1.
After Coffeyville's second goal, Lawrence played a pass to Foster who simply redirected the pass into the net for her third goal. It is her fourth hat trick of the season. She also scored three or more goals in games against Pratt, Garden City and Barton.
Coffeyville continued to put the pressure on Butler, scoring for a third time to make it a 5-3 game. The Grizzlies, though, finally put the game away with the final two goals of the contest. The first was from Yvette Aguilar on an assist from Brittney Lawrence and the final goal was Foster's fourth of the match, coming on an assist by MariCarmen Rios Jean.
Butler is now 13-2 overall on the season to go along with the undefeated conference mark. The Grizzlies will return home for two straight games at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex. The first will be on Friday against Independence at 7 p.m. and the second will be next Monday at noon against Dodge City in a makeup of a game that was postponed earlier this season due to weather.
