Foster sets single-game scoring record, Grizzlies clinch title

EL DORADO, Kan. - Morgan Foster set the Butler record for most goals in a game with nine, leading the Butler soccer team to a 12-0 win over Cloud County on Sunday night at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex. 

With the win, No. 6-ranked Butler clinches a third-consecutive Jayhawk Conference championship and secured the top seed in the upcoming Region VI playoffs.

Foster scored Butler's first four goals, the first coming just 14 seconds into the contest when she stole a Cloud County pass, dribbled past the defenders and slotted the ball just inside the right upright past the diving goalkeeper. She scored her next goal in the same fashion, this time in the third minute.

Foster would end up scoring six goals in the first half as her team scored nine goals in the period, the best output of the season since scoring nine in the first half against Garden City on Sept. 27. Brittany Lawrence scored two goals and Kelly Sutton added another, coming when a shot by Foster hit the left post and bounced back to Sutton, who slammed it back into the net.

In the second half, Foster scored three more goals in a span of just seven minutes. She left the match with more than 25 minutes to play, already having broken the record previously set by Sade Humphrey, who had scored eight goals in a game against Hesston in 2009.

Defensively, Kelsi Langley posted her fourth consecutive shutout and ninth overall this season. Six of those shutouts have come in the past seven games as the Butler defense has shut out opponents in 15 of the past 16 quarters.

Butler is now 17-2 on the season and clinches the conference title with a 12-0 record. The Grizzlies have accumulated 36 standings points. Barton County and Johnson County will tie for second place with 11-1-1 records and 34 points apiece.

The Grizzlies will have one more regular-season match, that also being a conference match on Wednesday at Allen County. A win in that game would leave Butler undefeated in conference play for the second straight year.

Regardless of Wednesday's regular-season finale, the Grizzlies will be the top seed in the upcoming Region VI playoffs. Butler will host a first-round match against eighth-seeded Hesston. That game will kick off at noon on Saturday at BG Products Veterans Sports Complex.