Women’s soccer suffers heartbreaking loss in Region VI title game

Battling back from a 2-0 deficit in its Region VI Championship game played Saturday at the Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita, KS, the No. 9-ranked Cowley College women's soccer team got a pair of second half goals from Marta Aranda to force overtime against No. 11-ranked Butler Community College. After a pair of scoreless overtime sessions, the Lady Grizzlies would get past Cowley 3-2 on penalty kicks.

The heartbreaking loss ends a record-setting season for the Lady Tiger soccer team as this year's squad won the most games in a season (15), and advanced to its first-ever District title match.

"I am very proud of the girls, we played a good team and showed how good of a team we had," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said. "We just made a couple of mishaps that allowed them to score their goals."

Butler got the scoring started early as Kim McAlpine put the Grizzlies in front with a goal only 13 minutes into the game. Morgan Houston's goal, six minutes before halftime, increased Butler's lead to 2-0.

However, the Lady Tigers continued to battle and got a pair of second half goals from sophomore Marta Aranda to tie the game at 2-2.

Cowley kept the pressure on in the first and second overtimes, but were unable to break the tie. After the second, scoreless OT, the teams each had five penalty kicks to try and secure the win. Unfortunately, Cowley had a pair of shots bounce off the post as they missed out on a chance to secure a spot in the national tournament.

The Lady Tigers end the season with a record of 15-1-2, while Butler advances to the national tournament with a record of 16-4-2.

"Penalty kicks is one of the most inhumane ways to finish competition, but it's part of the game," Dos Santos said. "I want to thank the crowd for their unbelievable support throughout the year. Unfortunately, we weren't able to win the region title. The girls are heartbroken, but they had an unbelievable season and represented Cowley well."

Cowley will say goodbye to 14 sophomores, including Natalia Lima (15 goals), Leticia Belloni (nine goals), Elsa Pelicant (six goals), Marta Aranda (five goals), Lucia Fernandez (four goals), Manuela Oliveira (four goals), Francisca Valenzuela (three goals), Florencia Campodonico (two goals), Carla Ruiz (one goal, one assist), Jessica Rincon, Michaela Seahorn, defender Iku Asari, defender Claudia Labajos, and goalkeeper Makayla Farquharson (0.79 goals against average).