NO. 11 DRAGONS FIND MORE LATE MAGIC TO TOPPLE NO. 8 BARTON

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team scored late in the 85th minute and earned its first victory over an NJCAA Top-10 opponent since 2011 on Wednesday night at the Salthawk Sports Complex.

Freshman Katharina Marx scored with 5:02 remaining in the second half to break a scoreless draw and freshman goalkeeper Karsyn Slothower posted her sixth shutout of the season to lead the No. 11-ranked Blue Dragons to a 1-0 victory over No. 8 Barton.

The Blue Dragons – now 2-0-1 in a stretch of four ranked opponents in a five-game stretch – improve to 7-0-2 overall and are 4-0-2 (14 points) in the Jayhawk Conference. The Blue Dragons travel to No. 18 Kansas City on Saturday and get No. 14 Cowley at home next Wednesday. Barton suffered its first loss of the season and is 3-1-1 overall and in KJCCC play.

The last time the Blue Dragons defeated an NJCAA Top 10 opponent was October 9, 2011 when Hutchinson defeated No. 5 Butler 2-1 at the Salthawk Sports Complex.

Last week, the Blue Dragons earned a 1-1 draw with then-No. 9 Butler at the Salthawk Sports Complex with Adriana Delgado scoring the equalizer in the 86th minute.

With Barton dominating possession throughout on Wednesday – Hutchinson was out-shot 32-12 in total shots and 14-5 in shots on goal – the Blue Dragons got possession after a Barton foul in Hutchinson's defensive zone with about 5:30 to play in the final half.

Trading possession for six-straight touches after the Dragons' free kick, sophomore midfielder Jayda Wyatt played a long pass from just inside midfield to the left side of the box where sophomore Destiny Hoy chased it down. Hoy made a run toward the left side of the goal, drawing a defender and Barton goalkeeper Mio Tanaka to her.

Hoy then played a perfectly paced cross-field pass to the right side where Marx out-sprinted a Barton player marking her to the ball and she beat an out-of-position Tanaka for a goal with 5:02 to play in the second half. The goal was Marx's seventh overall and her second game-winning goal of the season. Hoy was credited with the primary assist and Wyatt had the secondary assist.

Barton dominated possession in the final 5 minutes, but got only one quality shot off, a header by Nina Norshie that became Slothower's final save of the game. The Cougars also sent a corner kick through the penalty area untouched in the final five minutes.

Slothower (7-0-2) posted a career-high 14 saves against the high-powered Barton offense.

The 14 saves tie for the fourth-highest total by a Blue Dragon goalkeeper in team history for a single game, the most since Caroline Howard had 11 saves against Rose State in August 28, 2016. Slothower tied Ashley Perez (2005) for the fourth-most saves in single-game history..

Slothower and the Blue Dragon defense was under the gun for the entire 90 minutes. Slothower made her first save just 5 minutes into the game. She also had to defend four Cougar corner kicks.

Slothower had eight saves in the first half and six in the second half. The Cougars had one shot clank off the post in the second half.

GAME NOTES – The Blue Dragons are now 20-6-4 all-time against Barton, winning a game 1-0 against the Cougars for the third time in series history. … Marx had both shots on goal for the Blue Dragons. … With six shutouts, Karsyn Slothower is now sixth on the Blue Dragon true freshman list for goalkeeper shutouts.