The naming of five Kansas City Kansas Community College players to the All-Jayhawk Conference team highlighted an otherwise disappointing end to the Blue Devil soccer season.
No. 12 ranked Garden City ended the Blue Devils’ season with a 3-2 overtime win after a controversial call stripped KCKCC of a go-ahead goal with five minutes left in regulation. The loss also ended the KCKCC coaching tenure of Dayton Owens, who has announced he will not return next season.
Sophomore Reon Thomas of London, England, repeated as a forward on the first team while sophomore defender Shemiah Davis of SM North and goalkeeper Kyle Joseph of Trinidad Tobago were named to the second team. Sophomore midfielder Ted Wunderlich of Twin Falls, Idaho, and freshman defender Jamie Darroch of Glasgow, Scotland, received named honorable mention.
Playing nine nationally ranked teams on a schedule Owens called the most difficult in the nation, KCKCC defeated four of them including Garden City and No. 9 Barton County, which went on to win the NJCCC district title by defeating Garden City 3-0 and Cloud 2-1. Also, KCKCC prevented Jayhawk champion Johnson County from finishing 10-0 in conference play by battling the Cavaliers to a 2-2 draw at JCCC.
However, numerous injuries and illness plagued the Blue Devils, who were 9-3-1 at one time only to lose six of their final eight and finish 11-9-1. Six players missed the playoffs because of injuries or the flu. “Our bench players really came through and worked incredibly hard so to have the go-ahead goal taken away on a questionable call was very frustrating and disappointing,” said Owens.
Arnaldo Miranda pulled KCKCC into a 1-1 tie with a goal into a strong wind in the first half and then Thomas gave them the lead 2-1 early in the second half. Taking advantage of KCKCC playing with just 10 men, Garden City tied it with 18 minutes left.
“With about five minutes left, Reon took a punt from Kyle Joseph and ran onto it with two defenders all over him as he go to the 18-yard box,” said Owens. “The goalkeeper also broke out to stop him as well but poked the ball through the keep as the defenders were pulling him down to score what we thought was the potential game-winning goal. Instead, a foul was called on Reon for running into the goalie and the goal was not allowed.”
Winning the flip, Garden City got the wind in overtime and scored five minutes into the extra period.
KCKCC finished sixth at 4-5-1 in Jayhawk play and 5-5-1 in the district in Owens’ third and final season as head coach. “It did not go as we had hoped but it was a team KCKCC should be very proud,” said Owens. “The team worked very hard and did quite well with the toughest schedule in the nation. No one else played nine nationally ranked teams.”