A pair of first-half breakdowns against visiting Johnson County Community College’s relentless attacks put the Allen Community College women’s soccer team in a hole they couldn’t escape Wednesday.
The Red Devils were peppered with Johnson County shots from a number of angles. The visiting Cavaliers took the lead for good when Brooklyn Meinke scored on a breakaway just over 20 minutes into the match.
Another goal 14 minutes later on a free kick put Johnson County up 2-0.
The Red Devils responded, controlling possession for greater segments after intermission, but got nothing to show for it in a 3-0 loss.
The defeat drops Allen to 4-4 in Jayhawk Conference action and 6-6 overall.
Despite the shutout loss, Allen head coach Jeremy McGinnis saw signs of improvement, noting Johnson County came into Wednesday’s matchup as the 12th ranked team in the country. In addition, Allen lost to the Cavaliers by a collective 29-1 over their four previous meetings.
“Things are always going to be tough against teams like Johnson,” McGinnis said. “Games like this show we’re getting better. We were able to play with one of the best teams in the country in the second half, and we had a couple of good scoring opportunities early on.”
Johnson’s Courtney Hughes scored two minutes into the second half to boost the Cavalier lead to 3-0 and effectively seal the win.
But Allen didn’t go quietly, possessing the ball through much of the final 40 minutes.
“Now, we need to take the next step,” McGinnis said. “You can control the ball and move it back and forth a lot, but it doesn’t mean much if you can’t score with it.”
Goalkeeper Keelie Arbuckle racked up 11 saves, several coming in the frenetic first half.
Allen travels to Dodge City for its next contest at 1 p.m. Sunday.
12th-ranked Cavaliers too much for Red Devils
