The Region VI Championship was about as close as a soccer match can get. The 1st seeded and 4th ranked Butler Grizzlies tied and eventually lost 4-3 in PKs to the 2nd seeded and 15th ranked Barton Cougars on Saturday November 5th at Stryker Sports Complex. With the advancement, the Cougars claimed the Midwest Plains District Title for the first time in program history and have earned an automatic bid to the NJCAA National Tournament in Georgia.
The PK loss for the Grizzlies now means that they are seeking one of four at-large bids to the National Tournament.
The game officially ended as a 2-2 tie, meaning that the Grizzlies may finish the season at 18-2-2.
The Cougars opened the scoring early in the 16th minute when Ivanna Martinez knocked a ball in past Kyrah Klumpp, but Yossi Villagrana found an equalizing goal 12 minutes later when Joy Ngibuini slid a ball across the front of the box and found Yossi who was sneaking between Barton defenders and Villagrana punched the ball in to tie the game at one a piece. The teams went into the locker room tied at one with neither side having a great chance at scoring outside of their lone goal.
The Cougars found the back of the net first in the second half when Nina Norshie bounced a slow rolling ball over the head of Klumpp to give the Cougars the lead back. The Grizzlies weren't going down easy however as 13 minutes later Kenzee Godwin slid a ball past the Barton keeper Nia Baker on a fantastic feed from Brooklyn Hunter. Both sides had a couple of chances to find a go-ahead score, but neither side did. The final six minutes of regulation got dicey when Barton's Norshie slide into Meghann Wingsutton from behind which could have been a red card, but Norshie was given a yellow card for the offense. Four minutes later a Cougar and a Grizzly would collide on the field and the Barton player was injured on the field and the official chose not to stop play since Butler had the advantage. Barton's coach became irate and was promptly shown a yellow card and then another yellow card which got him ejected from the match.
After all the chaos, neither side managed to score in the rest of regulation or in either of the golden-goal overtime periods, meaning that for the second year in a row, the Plains District Title would come down to penalty kicks.
The Grizzlies won last year in dramatic fashion against Cowley 3-2 in PKs, but this time, the result would not end in the Grizzlies favor as Barton won 4-3 in PKs when Barton's Natalia Baltodano put the winning shot past Kyrah Klumpp in the fifth round of penalties.
As mentioned earlier, the Grizzlies must now hope to receive one of four at-large bids to the National Tournament to continue their season. The Grizzlies have an impressive resume and are very likely to receive one of the bids. However, if the Grizzlies do not receive one, they will end the year at 18-2-2 overall, KJCCC East Champs for the second year in a row, and Region VI Runner-Ups.
NOTES: This match is Butler's first non-win since September 14th, 2022, against Coffeyville…First loss or tie against Barton since the Spring 2021 season…Barton is the first team since the 2019 season to win the Plains District Title that is not Butler…Butler has appeared in three straight Region VI Title Games…
