Hutchinson CC Sports Information
Sophomore Beatrice Salas scored her first career goal and freshman Isabela Puccinelli returned to the lineup to dish out a pair of assists as the Hutchinson Community College women's soccer team earned a 2-0 KJCCC victory over the Barton Cougars to complete the first half of conference play on Wednesday at the Salthawk Soccer Complex.
The Blue Dragons snapped a two-match winless streak to improve to 6-2-1 overall and 3-2-1 (10 points in the KJCCC. Hutchinson travels to play No. 6 Cowley on Saturday in Arkansas City. Barton is now 6-5-0 overall and 3-4-0 (nine points) in the league.
Battling through a tightly contested scoreless draw in the first half, but Blue Dragons scored first just 4 minutes into the second half.
Puccinelli fired a low shot from 18 yards out that Barton goalkeeper Leonie Chambe made a save on, but the rebound caromed off to her left right to Salas, who hammered the loose ball home for a 1-0 lead with 41 minutes to play in the second half. Missing half of her freshman season to injury in 2023, Salas scored her first career goal, which turned into her first game-winning goal.
With 24:54 remaining the second half, the Blue Dragons got a big insurance goal. Puccinelli feathered a pass through to the foot of Poppy Smith, who drew the Barton keeper to her and then scored to the lower right corner of the goal for a 2-0 lead.
The Blue Dragon defense was equal to the task in protecting the shutout.
Freshman goalkeeper Evie Carvell tied a season high with six saves. Her most important save came in the second half in the 62nd minute when Carvell's save of a point-blank shot of Ayaka Nagano preserved Hutchinson's 1-0 lead at the time.
Carvell is now 4-1-1 with her second shutout of the season.
Chambe had seven saves for the Cougars.
Barton out-shot Hutchinson 15-12. Each team had three corner kicks.
GAME NOTES – Isabela Puccinelli had a season-high two assists. She has assists in three-straight games and has scored at least one point in 5 of 7 games played. … Poppy Smith scored her seventh goal of the season. … The Blue Dragons are now 22-7-5 all-time against Barton with 18 shutouts. … Wednesday's shutout was the 193rd shutout in Blue Dragon history.