Monroe College edges Angelina in penalty kicks

The Pool C game Sunday was a battle as Monroe College and Angelina College had to go to penalty kicks in order to decide a winner.

Both teams had chances as each team hit the crossbar on several occasions throughout the game but in the end Monroe College did not miss a penalty kick and came away with the win. The score is recorded as a tie in pool play with Monroe getting the penalty kick win.

“I am the most nervous guy during these, but my mom actually told me to wear my grey sweatpants because I wore shorts when we lost so I wore these tonight,” Monroe College men’s soccer coach Marcus DiBernardo said.

Monroe College’s Diego Batista, Cade Erickson, Bruno Rosa and Rodrigo Bacci Pereira Meira Arruda all made their penalty kicks for the Mustangs.

Angelina College’s Juan Lopez and Scott Gray both made their penalty kicks.

“For me, Angelina was the best team we have played all year. They were committed, have special players that are super athletic. Hats off to Angelina and hats off to our guys,” DiBernardo said. “This is why you have a tournament, the top teams get to come and compete like this, honestly the game was a coin flip and could have gone either way. We had some good chances and they had some good chances. Unfortunately, PKs are hard. You never want to lose in PKs. This tournament is one of the most competitive bunch of teams I have seen, whoever comes out of this tournament is going to need some luck on their side.”

Angelina College will play No. 6 seed Jefferson College Monday at 3 p.m. while Monroe College will play Jefferson on Tuesday at 3 p.m.