October 20, 2009

Tiger soccer loses in double overtime

In a game featuring two squads battling to earn a spot in the Region VI playoffs, the Cowley College men’s soccer team gave a valiant effort before losing to Neosho County 3-2 in double overtime Monday in Arkansas City.

With the top-eight teams in the Region VI standings qualifying for the playoffs, Cowley is currently in seventh place with 13 points. The victory assures Neosho County of being no worse than the sixth seed in the playoffs.

Knowing a victory would all but seal a Region VI playoff bid, Cowley head coach Roberto Dos Santos was sorry to see his team come up on the short end of a hard fought game.

“This loss hurts for various reasons, it was an important game,” Dos Santos said. “The guys fought the whole time, unfortunately, we couldn’t finish it.”

Things looked promising early as Cowley needed just 58 seconds to take the lead. Sophomore Keegan Cornelius scored off a pass from Dayton Rodrigues to give the Tigers a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the contest.

However, less than two minutes later, Neosho County tied the score at 1-1 on a goal by Richard Maggot. The score would stay tied at 1-1 heading into the second half.

The Panthers grabbed its first lead of the game on a goal by Lance Stimpson with 2:56 gone by in the second half. The score would remain 2-1 until Lucas Coelho assisted on a goal by the Tigers’ Nathan Modesto to tie the score at 2-2 with 16:54 left to play.

With the score tied at 2-2 at the end of regulation, the game would head to a 10-minute overtime. Neither team scored in the first overtime, but a foul called inside the box on the Tigers allowed the Panthers an opportunity for a penalty kick with just more than four minutes gone by in the second overtime. Neosho County’s Zendale Britton sent the penalty kick past Tiger goalie Blake Anderson as the Panthers escaped with the 3-2 win.

The victory improves Neosho County’s record to 6-8-2 overall and 5-4-1 in the region. Cowley is now 6-7-1 overall and 4-5-1 in the region. The Tigers are one point ahead of eighth place Coffeyville in the region, and three points ahead of ninth place Allen County , which has two games remaining in the region.

The Tigers will play its final regular season contest on Wednesday when they play at Cloud County at 4 p.m. The Thunderbirds are 9-7-2 overall and 6-4 in the region. A Cowley victory would lock up a playoff spot for the Tigers. A loss would leave the door open for Allen County to possibly sneak into the last playoff spot.

“This will be and important game, we need to solidify that playoff spot,” Dos Santos said.