LOWE HAT TRICK POWERS DRAGONS PAST COWLEY
Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Wednesday was quite a day for Hutchinson Community College Women's Soccer sophomore Hadlie Lowe.
Earlier in the day, Lowe was named the NJCAA Division I Women's Soccer National Player of the Week. Wednesday evening, Lowe continued her torrid scoring pace with a hat trick to lead the No. 17 Blue Dragons to a 3-1 Jayhawk West victory over the Cowley Tigers on Sophomore Recognition Night at the Salthawk Sports Complex.
The Blue Dragons improve to 13-2 overall and are 10-2 (30 points) in the Jayhawk West. The Blue Dragons travel to No. 18 Barton at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Great Bend in a battle of the top two teams in the Jayhawk West. Cowley falls to 7-7 overall and 4-7 in the league.
The Blue Dragons complete a season sweep of the Tigers and now own a 14-3-1 all-time record vs. Cowley.
The 13 season wins for Hutchinson are the most for the Blue Dragons since 2018.
Lowe had her second-straight hat trick – she has scored seven goals in her last two games – on Wednesday. Lowe was also credited with her fifth game-winning goal of the season and 13th of her career.
Lowe now has 37 career goals and moves past Sheena Nicol into seventh place on the Blue Dragon career goals list. Her 84 career points are now 11th all-time, just one point out of the Top 10. Lowe's third goal gave her a career-high 19 goals, which is 13th in single-season history. She has 45 points this season, which ties Jen Rogers for 16th in single-season history.
Lowe gave the Blue Dragons a 1-0 lead just 4:19 into the match when she took a long Lexi Jack pass and finished with a left-footed shot past Cowley keeper Kanon Dehama. Cowley's Esther Attwood tied the game with 8:10 to play in the first half and the Dragons survived a late Tiger surge in the opening stanza to take a 1-1 tie into halftime.
Cowley continued to own possession in the opening stages of the second half, but the Blue Dragon defense started to swing momentum as the match entered the final 25 minutes.
The Blue Dragons regained the lead in the 67th minute. Sophomore Ella Mae Miller came up to defend a Cowley player, who slipped while trying to make a move around the Blue Dragon defender. Miller instantly jumped on the loose ball and got the ball to Emma Scholl, who in turn, threaded a pass to Lowe, who took her time to hammer her second goal of the game, giving the Dragons a 2-1 lead with 23:04 to play.
Lowe scored an insurance goal with 3:03 to play. She took a long Aimee Maher pass and went in one-on-on with Dehama, who made the save on Lowe's initial shot, but didn't control the rebound. Lowe got to the loose ball and scored for a 3-1 lead.
Sophomore goalkeeper Madison Quarles improved to 7-0 with a dazzling second half in an eight-save performance. Quarles made five saves in the second half, including two incredible one-on-on saves when the score was 2-1 Hutchinson.
The Blue Dragons were outshot 21-12, including 9-2 in the first half.
After the match, the Blue Dragons honored the 10 sophomores – Quarles, Lowe, Maher, Miller, Scholl, Jack, Zara Lawless, Julia De Souza, Dayza Hollimon and Olivia Felix-Cardona – who played their final regular-season home match.
The Blue Dragons did clinch a home Region VI Tournament match with the victory.