Lady Tigers remain unbeaten with a 5-2 home win
Scoring its second-most goals in a game this season, the No.8-ranked Cowley College women’s soccer team scored four second-half goals to pull away for a 5-2 victory over Garden City on Wednesday at the Mark A. Phillips Athletic Complex.
Cowley improves its record to 8-0-4 overall and 8-0-3 in the conference. Garden City is now 9-5-3 overall and 4-5-2 in conference play.
Cowley sophomore Sara Cortes got the scoring started early as she recorded her 12th goal off an assist from Sophie Knaab, less than four minutes into Wednesday's contest.
Despite several chances, Cowley would not score again in the opening half as they went into halftime with a 1-0 advantage.
"It was a weird game because we started strong and were creating a lot of scoring opportunities, but only had the one goal to show for it," Cowley head coach Roberto dos Santos said.
After the missed opportunities, it took only 40 seconds into the second half for Garden City to tie the game on a goal by Angelica Gallo.
"We came out flat in the second half," dos Santos said.
The Broncbusters would then go in front 2-1 when Natalia Simbaqueva sent a shot from 25 yards out that took a high bounce in front of Cowley goalkeeper Julia Suelly and sailed just over Suelly's head for the unfortunate goal with 24:49 left to play.
However, less than two minutes later, Sabrina Barbosa tied the game at 2-2 as she scored off an assist from Cortes.
The goals would continue to come as Cowley scored three goals in the game's final 10 minutes. Barbosa and Cortes added their second goals of the contest, and Saki Sanno's seventh goal of the season capped the scoring in the 5-2 win.
"I am proud of how the girls responded after falling behind," dos Santos said. "Finally, the goals started coming."
Cortes leads the team with 13 goals, while the goals for Barbosa were her second and third of the season.
"Sabrina did a phenomenal job in the middle as well as Camille Carniglia," dos Santos said.
Cowley will play at Barton (9-6-1) on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Cougars are fourth in the conference with a record of 5-5-1.
"It will be a tough road game and a challenge we need to regroup and prepare for," dos Santos said.