Tiger soccer team uses a big second half to defeat Seward 3-1 in district opener
Trailing the sixth-seeded Seward County Saints 1-0 at halftime of its First Round District Tournament game on Saturday in Arkansas City, the top-seeded Cowley College men’s soccer team responded with three second-half goals to defeat the Saints 3-1.
Cowley outshot Seward 8-5 in the opening half, but really turned up the pressure in the second half, outshooting the Saints 16-3 over the game's final 45 minutes of play.
Seward took a 1-0 lead into halftime as Renan Maestri assisted on Pedro Mendonca's goal for the Saints 20 minutes into the first half.
"The first round of the playoffs is always very tough; I felt we started a little slow, and Seward took advantage and scored a goal," Cowley head coach Marcos Ribeiro said. "Falling behind and having the pressure makes things even harder, but I'm glad the boys didn't get desperate and kept playing the way we should."
Cowley would tie things up at 1-1 on the first of two goals from Hayata Kobayashi with 27:24 left to play. Only five minutes later, the Tigers would go in front 2-1 on a goal by Renan Syrio. Cowley would put the game away when Kobayashi scored his second goal of the contest with just over eight minutes remaining.
"I knew that after the first goal, we would score more, and that's exactly what happened," Ribeiro said.
Tiger goalkeeper Lukas Lowry finished with five saves as No. 5-ranked Cowley improved its record to 12-1-1 on the season. The Tigers will face fourth-seeded Garden City (11-5-4) on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Arkansas City. Cowley defeated the Broncbusters in both regular-season meetings.
"Now, we focus on Garden City, which will be another tough battle," Ribeiro said. "They have a great team and are hard to play against. They are coming from a big 3-1 win at Dodge City, so they are highly motivated. The key for us is to focus on the things we can control and be prepared to defend our home."