CONCORDIA, Kan. – Playing for the first time this season with a top-20 national ranking, the number 18 ranked Cloud County Community College women's soccer team would get two goals from sophomore Izabella Christina as part of a 3-1 home win over Barton Community College at the CCCC Soccer Field in Concordia, Kansas on Wednesday, October 16th.

The win ensures at least a share of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College West Division crown for the T-Birds, who are now 13-2-0 overall and 11-0-0 in the KJCCC. Barton concludes their KJCCC slate with an 8-4 mark in conference and 8-7 overall record following the defeat.

A slow start by CCCC allowed for Barton to take some chances offensively in the opening minutes as the Cougars would look to play long passes into open space where their speed could be utilized against the T-Bird back line. Just over five minutes into the game, Barton would find an opportunity come to fruition as a shot would be sent across the box and wide but to an open and waiting midfielder that would go back across the box to the far post to put Barton up 1-0 in the sixth minute.

The wakeup call by the Cougars would prove to light a fire under Cloud County, as possession and offense would be turned up a notch by the T-Birds, with a breakaway for Christina coming open off a pass from Fatima Leme to score with an soft roller into the back of the net and tie things up in the 17th minute. With things tied at 1-1, both teams would seem content with trying to play their style of soccer for the remaining 28 minutes in the first half with chances on both sides being somewhat limited for the rest of the opening 45 minutes. A chance would present itself with 90 seconds remaining in the first half for Cloud County as a battle for possession just five yards in front of the Barton goal line would be won by the T-Birds with Alicia Smith sending a pass to an open Franciele Cupertino who wasted no time finding the back of the net as CCCC would take a 2-1 lead on the Cougars at the break.

In the second half, Cloud County would limit the Barton offense while waiting for the right time to push through the Cougar back line and put up shots as two of CCCC's six second half shots would wind up on target. One of the two shots would come from Christina in the 75th minute, as a cross to a one-on-one opportunity with a defender would be won by the sophomore who would go to the far post to score her second goal of the game and give Cloud County an insurance goal to go up 3-1. As the final minutes played out, Barton would never truly pose a threat to score as the T-Birds would be able to celebrate their second KJCCC West Division Title in three years.

Cloud County would finish the contest with a 15-13 advantage in shots, with both teams putting up five shots on goal in the game. Two of the three corner kicks in the contest were taken by the Cougars, with Aroa Nieto and Cupertino leading all players in the game with four shots. Earning the win in net would be Thaynara Soares, going the full distance and turning away four shots for the T-Birds.

What's Next?

There's work left to be done by CCCC if the T-Birds want to win an outright KJCCC West Division Title as Cloud County will close out their KJCCC slate on Saturday, October 19th with a 6 p.m. matchup at Hutchinson Community College. HCC has not lost since September 25th when the T-Birds handed the Blue Dragons a 2-1 defeat in what would be just their second loss of the year. Hutchinson has allowed only three goals all year, with two of the goals coming against CCCC.