Month: September 2015

Big KCKCC women’s soccer rally falls short 4-3 at Hesston

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

The biggest offensive output of the season wasn’t quite enough for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women’s soccer team at Hesston Tuesday.

Trailing 4-0 at halftime, the Lady Blue Devils scored three times in a five-minute span in the second half and had a game-tying shot hit the corner cross bar in a 4-3 loss. The loss evened KCKCC’s record at 2-2 heading into a home Jayhawk Conference clash with Allen County Thursday at 4:30 p.m. followed by a men’s contest at 7 p.m.

Hesston took advantage of the Blue Devils long road trip and a 30-minute weather delay to jump off to a 4-0 lead in the first half. Three of the goals were scored by Mikaela Zook, who also assisted on the fourth one.

Challenged by coach Jeremy Winzer to win the second half, the Blue Devils responded quickly, led by Cristy Avelar. Jessica Ibarra got KCKCC’s first goal on a punt from goalkeeper Maria Hansen and two minutes later Allie Ledbetter and Katie Trzok linked up on a goal that cut the deficit in half at 4-2.

With momentum on their side, the Blue Devils needed just another three minutes for their third goal on a pass from Emily Soetart to Loida Carranza, who beat two defenders and the goalie. Given a free kick from 25 yards out, Trozk’s attempt at a tie banged off the top of the right corner of the goal.

“As a head coach it was hard to be upset with the effort and great character to dig deep and put three goals on the board after trailing 4-0,” Winzer said. “We had great leadership from Madison Simmons and Maria Hansen, who turned away 17 Hesston shots. Going into conference play, I thought this was a great game because we learned a great deal about each other as a team and our ability to dominate a team when we are all in tune.”

The Blue Devils will get another shot in the arm against Allen County Thursday with the hopeful return of sophomore midfielder Cynthia Conchas.

“I’m really excited about this team moving forward,” Winzer said. “We have five players with goals and great resilient athletes with a lot of heart and character.”

Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.

Sporting KC visits Portland today

Sporting Kansas City continues its four-game road swing with a midweek trip to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Portland Timbers.

Sporting KC and the Timbers are level on points, but manager Peter Vermes’ side has two games in hand heading into Wednesday’s match at Providence Park, which kicks off at 9:30 p.m.

Pregame coverage begins at 9 p.m. on KMCI-TV’s 38 the Spot and SKCTV across the Midwest.

Sporting KC is in the midst of a three-game losing streak, their longest since a four-game skid last year that ran from Aug. 19 – Sept. 6. This year, the losing streak began on Aug. 19 against San Jose followed by losses on the road to the Columbus Crew and Colorado Rapids.

Sporting KC has conceded 10 goals over the past three games and 18 over the past eight. In contrast, Sporting KC allowed just 17 goals through their first 17 MLS matches.

Conversely, Portland is currently on a nine-game home unbeaten streak dating back to May 2 with a 6-0-3 record during that time. Over the last 15 MLS matches, Portland has gained the second-most points of any team in the League entering this week’s fixtures (8-4-3, 27 points).

Sporting KC has a 2-1-0 all-time record at Portland, including a 1-0 win the last time they visited the Rose City in June 2014. The Timbers have scored just two goals in those three matches combined. The away team in the series has won four of seven meetings in all competitions since 2011.
The Western Conference foes will meet three times during the 2015 regular season and Wednesday marks the second meeting this year. The teams first met on March 21, playing to a 0-0 draw at Sporting Park.

Sporting Kansas City will be without Marcel de Jong (Canada), Krisztian Nemeth (Hungary) and Erik Palmer-Brown (U.S. U-20s) on Wednesday due to international duty.

Meanwhile, Portland will be missing Will Johnson (Canada), Alvas Powell (Jamaica) and Michael Seaton (Jamaica) due to international duty with Liam Ridgewell and Diego Chara unavailable due to suspension.

Following the match, Sporting KC will conclude the road swing with its first trip to Orlando to take on expansion club Orlando City SC, Sunday night at the Orlando Citrus Bowl.
– Story from Sporting KC