EL DORADO, Kan. – The No. 11 ranked Butler Grizzly soccer team is geared up for postseason play.
Butler (12-2-4, 12-2-2 KJCCC) is the 2-seed in the Region 6 Tournament and will host 7-seed Seward County on Friday afternoon at 1 p.m. from BG Products Veterans Sports Complex.
The Grizzlies were KJCCC co-champions, sharing the title with 1-seed KCKCC, but the Blue Devils were awarded the 1-seed due to their 1-0-1 record vs. the Grizzlies this season.
The tournament format sees the top-4 seeds host opening round (quarterfinal) matchups between Nov. 1-3. Following that the semifinals will be held on Nov. 7th (Thursday) at the higher remaining seeds. The championship game is set for Sunday, Nov. 10th in Overland Park at the Johnson County Community College Soccer Field. The winner gets an automatic bid to the 2024 NJCAA Division 1 Women's Soccer Championship held at Stryker Sports Complex in Wichita from Nov. 17-23.
Butler won its final two games of the regular season defeating Seward County 2-1 on the road and Dodge City 4-1 at home. Butler ended the regular season first in the KJCCC in shot percentage (.151), second in goals scored (40), second in assists (33), second in points (113) and second in goals allowed (15).
Individually in conference games, freshman London Ingram was second with 14 goals, third in points (30), and third in shots on goal (37). Sophomore Sakiko Manabe led the league with 12 assists. Sophomore goalkeeper Rylie Schiffelbein led the conference with 10 wins, also finishing third best with a .871 save percentage.
Butler finished 2-0 vs. Seward, their first round opponent. The Grizzlies won 4-1 at home over the Saints on Wednesday, Sept. 18th, and 2-1 on Friday, Oct. 18th, in Liberal. Four different Grizzlies scored in the first win with Ingram, Tyesha Nelson, Giselle Nash and Hayde Flores all netting goals. The Grizzlies used all three goalies in the win with Schiffelbein earning the win, totaling 55 minutes in goal. The 2-1 win on the road was a come from behind win as Seward led 1-0 at halftime. Wendy Zamudio and Sakiko Manabe scored in the second half to push the Grizzlies to the 2-0 lead. Schiffelbein played the first half in goal and Lynch played the second.
The Grizzlies have advanced past the Region 6 Quarterfinals in all 22 years the program has existed and have won the Region 10 times. Head coach Adam Hunter has led the Grizzlies to nine Region titles including a stretch of six straight from 2011-2016.
The winner of Butler vs. Seward will take on the winner of Hutchinson vs. Dodge City on Thursday, Nov. 7th.
