by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information
Kansas City Kansas Community College celebrated its climb into the Top 20 of the NJCAA’s Division I women’s soccer ratings with a 6-0 blanking of Neosho County in Chanute Monday.
Ranked No. 19 in the latest poll, the win comes on the heels of a 2-1 win over No. 16 Cowley last Friday. However, another ranked foe looms next for the Blue Devils – a home collision with No. 12 Butler County Wednesday at 6 p.m.
Sophomore Corrine Hughes of Grain Valley had two goals and an assist to lead the Blue Devils while freshman Katharina Oelschlager had a goal and an assist and soph Kayley Pedersen two assists.
The Blue Devils took a 2-0 halftime lead despite going into a strong wind and then dominated the second half. Hughes got the first goal on an assist from Oelschlager early in the first half, then reciprocated with a pass to Oelschlager late in the period for the 2-0 lead.
“Scoring those two goals was big for us,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. “But everything between those goals was tough. Neosho defended well making it tough for us to score. Once we got with the wind, the ball basically never left their half of the field. We had a lot of scoring opportunities.”
Once playing with the wind, the Blue Devils widened the gap. Hughes scored on a pass from Pedersen and Melissa Siegel had an unassisted goal for a 4-0 lead. Freshman Kennia Accunia from Olathe North and sophomore Caroline Rutledge closed out the scoring, Rutledge scoring on an assist from Pedersen.
Freshman Susie Lopez of Turner got her second shutout in goal with help from another frosh, Mia Tomasic, who just joined the squad from the KCKCC volleyball team.