DRAGONS SECURE 3RD PLACE IN KJCCC WITH TIE VS. TIGERS

Hutchinson CC Sports Information

The Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team knew it needed a single point on Saturday to lock itself into a third-place finish in the Jayhawk Conference.

Led by Haley Rogers' four-point game, the No. 16-ranked Blue Dragons got that point with a 3-3 tie against the No. 19-ranked Cowley Tigers on Sophomore Day at the Salthawk Complex.

The Blue Dragons finished the 2024 regular season with a 9-2-6 overall record and finished third in the KJCCC with 30 points (8-2-4). The Dragons finished one point ahead of Cowley for third. Hutchinson will now play host to a Region 6 Tournament at 2 p.m. next Sunday, November 3 at the Salthawk Soccer Complex. Official pairings will be released on Monday.

Hutchinson went 5-0-3 through the second half of the KJCCC season. The last loss the Dragons suffered was 3-0 at Cowley on September 25.

Rogers had a goal and two assists to lead the Blue Dragons offensively.

Tied at 2-2 at halftime, Rogers delivered a perfect corner kick that sophomore Kaitlyn Edwards headed into the upper right corner of the goal for a 3-2 Blue Dragon lead with 36:41 to play in the second half. The Blue Dragons were less than 2 minutes from a victory, but Cowley's Hina Suzuki, the KJCCC's second-leading goal scorer – scored her second goal of the game to tie the game at 3-3 with 1:23 to play in regulation time.

Sophomore Katharina Marx also scored for the Blue Dragons, while Nancy Stefanek scored an assist.

Sophomore goalkeeper Karsyn Slothower had her fourth career game of 10 or more saves with 10 saves against the Tigers. She now has 162 career saves, which is second-most in team history.

Suzuki had two goals and an assists to lead the Tigers, who out-shot the Blue Dragons 24-14. Tiger goalkeeper Marin Peoples finished with four assists.

The Blue Dragons scored the first goal of the game when Rogers took a throw-in from Stefanek and lobbed a shot over the top of Peoples for a 1-0 Hutchison lead 10:42 into the game.

A little less than 3 minutes later, Marx and Rogers weaved their way through the Cowley defense and ended up with a 2-on-1 vs. Peoples. Rogers slid a perfect pass to her right and Marx smashed it into the goal for a 2-0 lead with 31:38 remaining in the first half.

Cowley didn't take long to tie the game. Suzuki scored her first goal of the game in the 17th minute to cut the Dragon lead to 2-1. Anna Linzler scored 2 minutes, 46 seconds later to tie the game at 2-2 with 25:39 to play in the opening half.

The Blue Dragons are now 14-6-2 against Cowley.

GAME NOTES – Katharina Marx now has 22 career goals, 21 career assists and 65 career points. She is tied with Nicole Randall (2009-10) for 17th on the Blue Dragon career points list. She is tied for 17th with Kayla Delzer (2006-07) and Esther Karhayu (2019-2020/21) in career goals scored and is tied for 13th in career assists with Madison Joyce (2010-11), Johanna Adolfs (2006-07) and Marah Franke (2019/2020/21). … The six ties extend the current Blue Dragon single-season record for ties. … Haley Rogers had 13 goals, nine assists and 35 points this season. … Kaitlyn Edwards has nine goals, four assists and 22 points this season.