HUTCH’S REPEAT CHASE COMES DOWN TO 2 DAYS

HutchCC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College Women's Soccer team knows the task at hand.

One more victory in the next two games and the Blue Dragons will repeat as conference champions.

Those two games, both against Cloud County, will start within 23 hours of each other. The Blue Dragons will play host to the Thunderbirds at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Salthawk Sports Complex. The teams will play in Concordia at 1 p.m. on Monday.

Weather has prevented these two teams from playing throughout the 2017 season. The first matchup was supposed to be played in Concordia on September 27. Heavy rains the day before made the Thunderbird field unplayable and that game was moved to Monday.

The game at Hutchinson was originally scheduled for today at 2 p.m. at the Salthawk Sports Complex. On Wednesday, it was moved back one hour, but the threat of bad weather forced the game to move to Sunday at 1 p.m.

Thus, the teams will play each other on back-to-back days to close out the regular season.

Entering play on Sunday, the Blue Dragons (13-1-1 overall) have a one-point lead over the Thunderbirds. Hutch is 8-1-1 (25 points) and Cloud County is 8-2 (24 points) – Conference wins are worth three points and ties are worth one point. Northwest Tech still figures into the equation with a Monday home match against Barton. The Mavericks are 8-3 (24 points).

In the regional standings, which sets the Region VI Tournament seeding, Hutchinson is 10-1-1 (31 points), Cloud County 10-2 (30 points) and Tech is 8-3 (27 points). Tech played Hesston today and still has Barton on Monday.

One Hutchinson victory, either Sunday or Monday, will clinch the Jayhawk West title and top seed in the Region VI West. The Region VI Tournament will open on Saturday, October 28 in Hutchinson. Time and opponent are yet to be determined.

Hutchinson and Cloud County represent the top two defensive teams in the Jayhawk West this season. The Blue Dragons have allowed six goals and Cloud County has allowed 13.

Since Hutchinson's 4-0 loss to Northwest Tech on October 11, the Blue Dragons have outscored Garden City and Dodge City by a combined score of 22-0. The Dragons have allowed just two shots on goal in the past two games.

Hutch's top two scorers, Brailey Moeder and Sheena Nichol, have produced big numbers in the last two games. Moeder has six goals and an assist in the last two games. Nichol had a goal and six assists.

Nichol is now the Jayhawk Conference leader in assists with 13 and Moeder is second in goals scored with 16.

Cloud County dropped women's soccer after the 2013 season, but reinstated the program for 2017. The T-Birds are led by Joana Villanova, who has 11 goals. Angie Vergara has 10 goals and team highs of 12 assists and 32 points. Maryanne de Castro also had 10 goals. Alanya Hannigan is Cloud's top keeper with an 8-3 record with a 1.0 goals-against average and a .776 save percentage.

Sunday's game will be videostreamed on the Blue Dragon Sports Network. Monday's match video will be provided by Cloud County Sports Information.