Barton scores with 2:09 left to edge Blue Devils 2-1 in regional playoffs
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information
Has the best women’s soccer team in Kansas City Kansas Community College earned an at-large berth in the NJCAA Division I national tournament? The facts say a resounding yes.
An automatic bid eluded the No. 10-ranked Blue Devils Saturday when they dropped a 2-1 heartbreaker in the Region VI semifinals, Barton County scoring the winning goal with 2:09 remaining.
The win advanced Barton (12-3-1) into Sunday’s championship game against Butler, a 1-0 upset winner over Hutchinson in the regional played in Stryker Arena in Wichita.
Three at-large berths are up for grabs for the national tourney to be played in Owens, Georgia.
“I think we have a decent chance of getting one,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. Here’s what the Blue Devils have going for them:
- They were the top ranked team (No. 10) in one of the best conferences in the nation with five teams – No. 17 Cowley, Barton, Butler, Hutchinson and KCKCC ranked in the Top 20 at one time or another.
- The Blue Devils defeated both regional finalists, Barton and Butler, along with Cowley and tied with Hutchinson.
- The Blue Devils’ record of 12-2-1, the best in KCKCC history percentage wise, ranks among the best in the nation. The losses to Barton and Coffeyville were each by one goal.
- KCKCC scored more goals (46) and gave up fewer goals (12) than any team in the Jayhawk Conference and the Blue Devils’ 11-game winning streak was one of the NJCAA’s best.
If an invitation is to come, it won’t be until Wednesday.
“I’ve given the team off Monday, we’ll practice Tuesday, train on Wednesday and then wait and see,” Uhlenhake said. “It’s probably harder to get an at large bid losing in the semifinals.”
One has to go no farther than this year’s NJCAA Division II women’s national basketball tournament to see what can happen. Beaten by KCKCC in the regional championship game, Johnson County got an at-large bid to the national tourney and finished second.
The 2-1 loss to Barton came just when it looked like the two teams were headed for overtime only to have the Cougars’ Kedin Stinson ward off a defender and score from 12 yards out with 2:09 remaining. It was Stinson’s 13th goal of the season.
Barton broke a 0-0 deadlock when Seulgi Lee headed in a corner kick 10 minutes into the second half but the Blue Devils got even 13 minutes later when freshman Katharina Oelschlaeger drilled a 28-yarder just inside the far post.
“We just kept waiting for the second one,” Uhlenhake said. “You could just feel the tension. This team has come character. We’ve come from behind twice before this year but we just couldn’t get the one pass or one touch we needed.”
The Blue Devils came inches from a go-ahead goal when Melissa Siegel’s long free kick late in the game was barely tipped away by Cougar goalkeeper Maria Guiterrez.
“That was the play of the game,” Uhlenhake said. “Melissa could not hit that ball any better. It would have put us up 2-1. Barton is a good team, a real, good team. We made adjustments; they made adjustments. I think the best two teams were in the regional. We just ran out of time.”