KCKCC women’s soccer off to 2-0 start; home again Friday

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s young women’s soccer team made it two wins in a row Sunday, coming from behind for an exciting 2-1 win over Dodge City.

The unbeaten Lady Blue Devils are right back in action Friday when they play host to Blue River at 5 p.m. The game will be followed by a men’s contest matching KCKCC and Blue River at 7:30 p.m.

Despite a heavy downpour of rain most of the first half, all the scoring came in the first 45 minutes. Dodge City scored first when one of the Lady Conquistadors stepped in front of an errant pass back towards goal and scored with just 15 minutes left in the half.

But the Blue Devils rebounded almost immediately, tying the game on freshman Itzel Almanza’s second goal of the season. The goal came on an assist from Bishop Ward sophomore Serena Ortiz.

The winning goal came with five minutes left in the first half on a free kick. Natalie Zink, a freshman from Leavenworth, got the goal on a pass from Ortiz, her third assist of the season.

“Natalie hit the ball low and hard on the ground and past the goalkeeper after a slight deflection,” KCKCC assistant coach Katie Kelly said.

Without more rain, the KCKCC defense pitched a shutout the second half.

“We got great work by freshman Carmen Rush of DeSoto and sophomore Bailey Zinser of Lansing in the defense to keep them from scoring and sophomore Marivel Gomez played well in the second half by keeping the ball away from Dodge City from the forward position.” she said.