by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Butler Community College lived up to its No. 12 national women’s soccer ranking Sunday but not before Kansas City Kansas Community College accomplished something only one other team had attained this season – score three goals in a 6-3 loss.
Unbeaten in Jayhawk Conference play at 6-0, Butler’s three losses this season have been to No. 3 Tyler, Texas, 2-0; No. 5 Navarro, Texas, 3-2; and No. 11 Northern Oklahoma, 2-1.
The loss dropped the Lady Blue Devils to 5-4 overall and 2-3 in the Jayhawk heading into a big home showdown with Johnson County Tuesday at 5 p.m. That contest will be followed by a 7:30 p.m. kickoff between the KCKCC and JCCC men’s teams.
“I was proud of our effort because we scored and we competed with one of the best teams in the country year in and year out,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. “We scored three times after not even getting a shot in two matches last year so we’re moving in the right direction. Against a team that good you make a mistake and it costs you. But we learned a lot about what we need to do to become a top team.”
Butler jumped off to a 3-0 lead in the first 27 minutes before sophomore Serena Ortiz scored the first of her two goals for KCKCC on a pass from freshman goalkeeper Jessica Hill 34 minutes into the first half. Ortiz’ second goal came just two minutes into the second half and the forward from Bishop Ward added an assist on a goal by sophomore Emilie Lutz at the 60-minute mark.
Katie Hartman led Butler, scoring two goals and assisting Kennedy Weaver on the game’s first goal 15 minutes into contest. Melonie Baca and Hartman made it 3-0, both goals coming on assists from Ky Kreemer. Alexis Palmer and Tiffany Butler had the Grizzlies’ final two goals.
Butler had 21 shots with KCKCC goalkeeper Jessica Hill recording five saves while the Blue Devils had nine shots on goal.