October 20, 2008

Cowley men’s soccer loses in overtime to Hesston, falls at Garden City

Following a 5-4 overtime loss to Hesston College on Friday, the Cowley College men’s soccer team had to get right back at it on Saturday as they traveled to take on No. 10-ranked Garden City. The quick turnaround seemed to hamper the Tigers as they fell by a score of 7-1.

The losses drop Cowley into ninth place in Region VI with only one regular season game remaining. The Tigers will need to defeat Coffeyville Tuesday at home and then have some help to finish amongst the top-eight teams in the region and qualify for the Region VI playoffs.

“We really needed the Hesston game,” Cowley assistant coach Dane Straight said.

Against Hesston Friday, Cowley jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Joao Bacchi scored just 3:53 into the contest. The Tigers’ Keegan Cornelius answered a goal by Hesston to give Cowley a 2-1 halftime lead.

Hesston scored two goals in the first 11 minutes of the second half to take a 3-2 lead, before Cowley’s Nick Sobba scored to tie the game at 3-3 midway through the second half.

Hesston’s Paul Schrag regained the lead for the Larks as he scored with 18 minutes remaining.

Needing a goal to force overtime, Cowley’s Orlando Colina scored with only 3:14 left to play. However, the good feelings did not last long as Hesston’s Alex Steiner ended the game by scoring just two minutes into overtime.

With the loss still fresh in their minds, Cowley had to leave at 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning for an early afternoon game against 10th-ranked Garden City. The Broncbusters scored four first half goals and led 7-0 before Sobba got the Tigers on the board late in the second half.

Cowley is now 4-10-1 overall and 3-7 in the region. Hesston is also 3-7 in the region, while Garden City improves to 13-1-1 overall and 8-1-1 in the region.

The Tigers will host Coffeyville Tuesday at 6 p.m. in what is a must- win game.

“That is a game we need to win, it is a very important game for us,” Straight said.