T-Birds roll past Coffeyville 6-0, will face Butler

A year ago, the Cloud County Community College women's soccer team knocked out Coffeyville, 2-0, in the Region 6 championship game to qualify for the program's first national tournament berth.
The two teams met again on Thursday in the first round of this year's Region 6p layoffs — a 6-0 drubbing at Harold M. Clark Stadium — in what the Thunderbirds hope was just the first step in another march toward a national tournament appearance in 2018.
"I was impressed with the girls. They came ready to play and were focused on taking care of what we needed to on the field," said Cloud County head coach, Charles Long. "Coffeyville was the team Cloud beat in the playoffs last year, so there was some history there, and I was impressed with how the girls handled it."
Thursday's rout was on early as the T-Birds (15-2 overall) tallied their first two goals within the first 3:31 of play.
Sophomore defenseman Ingrid Castro started the scoring with a header off a corner kick by freshman midfielder Franciele Cupertino just 2:21 into the contest.
A minute late, sophomore defenseman Juliana Lima showed off some touch with a beautifully placed lead to Izabella Christina, who walked in and scored to make it a 2-0 advantage over the Red Ravens (10-7 overall).
Cloud County added one more goal before the half when sophomore Yasmidt Mendoza was sprung open along the left side by two quick, one-touch passes by Cupertino and Christina.
After two assists in the first half, Cupertino then shouldered the scoring load in the second half with a pair of goals to cap off what was a six-point day.
Cupertino opened the second half with a goal off a free kick that one-hopped the Coffeyville keeper and into the back of the net from 45-yards out.
She collected her second goal of the game with 4:26 remaining, capitalizing on a one-on-one opportunity after receiving a lead pass from freshman midfielder Aroa Nieto.
With the six points, Cupertino upped her team lead to 48 points on the season, which ranks fourth among all KJCCC players.
The T-Birds also received a goal from sophomore Joana Villanova in the second half as she rocketed in a shot after receiving a long lead pass from fellow sophomore, Maria Barbosa.
Not lost in the scoring barrage was the play of the Cloud County defense, which was able to neutralize the trio of Ashley Talley, Gabriela Rodrigues and Christina Kitaru and hold Coffeyville to five shots on goal.
"(Kitaru) is an outstanding player and we double-teamed her most of the game. Coffeyville's number nine (Rodrigues) is a good player and we kept someone on her all game, and (Talley) in the midfield is an effective player and Franciele did a nice job staying with her and shutting her down," Long said. "We were able to limit Coffeyville's attacks. Our defense has been anchoring us for a while, which is nice."
Sophomore goalkeeper Chelsea Cordice, back after missing one game due to a concussion, stopped all five shots she faced to improve to 8-0 on the season while lowering her goals against average to 0.15 in nine appearances.
Cloud County will be on the road for the second round of the playoffs to face top-seeded Butler Community College at 7 p.m.  Saturday in El Dorado
Butler (14-4) defeated Dodge City Community College 4-0 in the opening round.