ROGERS’ HAT TRICK PACES DRAGONS TO KJCCC-OPENING VICTORY

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

Sophomore forward Haley Rogers posted the 99th all-time hat trick in Hutchinson Community College women's soccer history to lead the 20th-ranked Blue Dragons to a Jayhawk Conference season-opening victory on Wednesday night at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.

Rogers had a career-high seven points and sophomore midfielder Kaitlyn Edwards tied a career high with five points as the Blue Dragons defeated the Garden City Broncbusters 7-2.

The Blue Dragons improved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the KJCCC. Hutchinson travels to Seward County on Saturday for a 2 p.m. match against the Saints at Liberal High School. Garden City is 2-1 overall and 0-1 in league play.

Rogers became the 44th different player in Blue Dragon history to register a hat trick. Rogers scored three goals and had an assists to pace the Dragons. She scored the match's first two goals. All three of Rogers' goals came in the first half, which is the 48th time in program history a player has had three goals or more in a single half.

Edwards earned her fourth career multi-goal game with two goals and an assist.

Sophomore Katharina Marx had her second-straight multi-point game of the season with a goal and two assists. That was her third career multi-assist game.

Marx and Rogers are tied for the team lead through two games with 10 points each.

Blue Dragon sophomore goalkeeper Karsyn Slothower (2-0) collected her 14th career victory with a five-save performance. Slothower also reached a milestone, moving past Olivia Felix-Cardona into third place on the Blue Dragon career saves list and become the third-ever Blue Dragon keeper to surpass 100 career saves. Slothower has 101 career saves.

Freshman Faith Pound was the other goal scorer for the Blue Dragons. Beatrice Sales, Anastasia Pokrandt, Kira Artmann and Emma Hoffman all collected assists in the game.

The Blue Dragons out-shot Garden City 33-17 and had 12 corner kicks in the game to Garden City's zero.

Hutchinson produced its second five-goal half of the season on Wednesday night.

The scoring started after Edwards intercepted a short punt by the Garden City goalkeeper and she immediately slid a pass to Rogers, who moved by one defender and lofted a shot from 25 yards out into the goal for a 1-0 lead with 40:55 to play in the opening half.

About nine minutes later, Sales controlled a loose ball at midfield and hit Marx in stride, who in turn made a run at goal up the middle. Marx slide a pass to her left over to Rogers, who scored from about 20 yards out to make it 2-0 Dragons with 33:28 remaining in the first half.

Marx made hit 3-0 when she received a Pokrandt pass just outside the box and drove by an aggressive play by Garden's keeper and scored into a wide-open goal with 24:52 remaining in the half.

The Blue Dragons struck from long distance for their fourth goal when Edwards lofted a shot from 25 yards out for the upper-right corner of the goal that glanced off the finger tips of the Garden keeper with 9:11 to play in the half. Artmann was credited with the assist.

Rogers finished off her hat trick with the final goal of the half when she one-touched a perfect Hoffman cross and chipped the ball into the goal for a 5-0 lead with 6:43 to play in the first half.

Rogers earned her lone assist of the game with a corner kick and Edwards headed in for a 6-0 lead 34:45 to play in the second half.

After Garden City scored a pair of goals to pull within four, the Dragons had the final marker of the game when Pound knocked home her first career goal off a loose ball from a Marx shot for a 7-2 lead with 7:07 remaining in the game.

The Blue Dragons are now 32-0-1 all-time against Garden City. The Busters did score more than one goal in a game against the Blue Dragons. for the first time in series history. Jessica Newton had both goals for the Busters.