Four minutes in Thursday's semifinals at Wichita's Stryker Sports Complex, the Barton Community College women's soccer team was left fighting from behind as 11th ranked Butler Community College held off any momentum swing to eliminate the 19th ranked Cougars 5-1 from the Region VI/Plains District tournament.
The loss ends Barton's season at 13-4-1 while the top seeded Grizzlies continue their title defense trek advancing to Saturday's 6:00 p.m. championship against 9th ranked Cowley College.
Butler challenged Barton's defensive effort throughout the match, slipping behind multiple times creating 1v1 havoc for the Cougars' Nia Baker to ring the bell three times in the first 34 minutes.
Kim McAlpine's through ball as the clock approached the four minute mark created the first opportunity for either team, setting up Kenzee Godwin's first of four goals on the afternoon.
Barton began to flip the field after the goal with the Cougars' leading scorer Annika Gerdau getting a pair of shots off in a sixty-second span as the second one was saved by Butler's Kyrah Klumpp.
Godwin set up the eventual game winner, sending a cross over the top of the defense with Joy Ngibuini stationed on the far post to put it away for the 2-nill advantage coming 20:57 into the action.
The Cougars again came firing back with Seulgi Lee's attempt being saved and Silvia Cinque's shot ten seconds later missing wide.
Godwin again slipped behind the defense at the 34th minute for her second goal of the opening frame in netting Meghann Wingsutton pass for the eventual 3-0 halftime Butler lead.
The Grizzlies outshot Barton 8-6 in first half action, seven on frame with Baker saving four while Klumpp turned away the pair of Cougar scoring attempts.
Needing a positive result to flip momentum in second half play, Lee helped provide a spark creating a Butler foul inside the eighteen. Cinque stepped in for the penalty kick, delivering her third net shaker of the season and more importantly cut the deficit to 3-1 with 30:49 to play.
Butler held off the charge for the next twenty minutes with Godwin providing the dagger with 10:45 left registering the hat trick from Morgan Houston's assist.
Completing her nine point performance, Godwin got loose again past the defense just under four minutes later at the 82:56 mark closing out the scoring for the haul beating Baker in the 1v1 situation.
Final statistics had the Grizzlies outshooting Barton 18-15 including a 10-6 advantage on shots between the pipes.
Record Book Impact
Annika Gerdau closed out her Barton career 11th all-time with 20 goals scored, netting 8 her freshman campaign before leading the team this year with 12. Compiling 49 total points in her two-year career, Gerdau records the 12th best all-time total and just one point from moving into 11th.
Seulgi Lee led the Cougars this season with 9 assists while netting a team second best 9 goals to compile 27 points ranking second to Gerdau's 29 points. The season and two-year career moved Lee into a tie for the 7th best all-time distribution total of 17 assists and moved into the 13th spot behind Gerdau with 43 total points.