Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – Seward County entered the final week of the regular season with playoff implications on the line entering Wednesday’s contest with the Coffeyville Red Ravens as the Lady Saints competed wire to wire with their Jayhawk Conference opponent where a second half goal from Dayra Dinarte off a penalty kick helped SCCC earn a point in the standings with a 1-1 draw.
Both sides worked their ways up and down the field throughout the first twenty minutes of action as the two KJCCC rivals tried to be the first to get on the board. Seward County had their opportunities to try and score as Dinarte and Nicole Calderon each sent in shot attempts that could not connect for scores while Giuliani Granada sailed a high-powered shot on goal that landed above the cross bar to keep the score locked at 0-0. The Red Ravens however did not miss out on their chance to score as a free kick sailed over the heads of the Lady Saints where a Coffeyville player created a cross to her teammate for a header that slipped past the reach of Ashley Acevedo and into the goal that put Seward County behind 1-0 entering the halftime break.
With their backs against a wall, the Lady Saints came out guns blazing in the second half as multiple SCCC players created a barrage of shots to put the Red Raven’s goalie to work. The combination of Dinarte and Calderon once again fired in a pair of shot attempts while Averi Wagner added in a shot attempt of her own that missed a little outside which kept Seward County from getting on the board. A foul inside of the box gave a glimmer of hope to the Lady Saints as Dinarte stepped up to take the shot where she faked out Coffeyville’s goalie to sink in the tying goal in the 75:00th minute. From their it was a battle to reclaim the lead which Natoya Atkinson nearly accomplished by making her way up field pass a pair of defenders to launch a rocket of a shot towards the goal that was barely knocked away to keep the score even at 1-1. Despite making one final push to try and add to their total, the Lady Saints were unable to connect in the back of the goal a second time before the horn sounded to end the matchup in a draw.
Seward County now sits at 2-11-5 in the 2024 regular season with a KJCCC record of 1-10-4. They will wrap up their regular season on Saturday when they honor their 2024 sophomore class before facing the Barton Cougars at home on Redskin Field with kickoff scheduled for 2:00 PM.
