Arizona Western edges Salt Lake CC, advances to title game

The Arizona Western men’s soccer team is back in the NJCAA Division I National Championship Game for the second straight season.

The Matadors defeated Salt Lake Community College 2-1 Thursday night in the semifinals at Orlando Health Stadium at Eastern Florida State College.

Arizona Western once again got on the board first as Terry Makedika scored on a header with 23 minutes and 23 seconds left in the first half.

With 7:18 remaining in the first half a high kick resulted in a red card and forced Arizona Western to play with 10 players the rest of the game.

“That is one of the greatest victories in our program’s history by a long shot. Salt Lake is an amazing team, great coaching staff, great players and we just really fortunate to get the win,” Arizona Western men’s soccer coach Kenny Dale said. “The old saying is defense wins championships and you have to defend if you want to advance. We showed a lot of courage once we got down to 10 men. I wanted the guys to defend more than they did. I was happy that we got it done, it is a miracle.”

Up 1-0 at halftime, Salt Lake Community College’s Ty Sanchez tied the game 1-1 five minutes into the second half.

It remained tied for four minutes until Salt Lake was called for a penalty in the box, leading to an Arizona Western penalty kick.

Shoki Yoshida took the penalty kick, putting Arizona Western up 2-1.

From there the Matadors defense held on as Salt Lake Community College put the pressure on right down to the final minute.

“I am really excited for the guys, to be able to make it back to the championship game is really exciting,” Dale said.

The Matadors will play Monroe College for the NJCAA Division I National Championship Saturday night at 7 p.m. at Orlando Health Stadium at Eastern Florida State College.