By The Scene staff
No. 7-seeded St. Louis Community College’s hope of advancing to the Final Four of the NCJAA Division II men’s soccer tournament in Arizona came down to a penalty kick in overtime Nov. 14 against No. 2 seed Phoenix College.
Bryan Aceves’s shot beat goalkeeper Matheus Pereira in the 95th minute to vault the Bears to a 2-1 victory, eliminating the Archers after they had opened Pool B play with a 5-1 victory Nov. 13 against Pearl River Community College of Mississippi.
In the 58th minute against Phoenix, Archers leading scorer Raphael Kistmann scored on a penalty kick for a 1-0 lead after teammate Garrett Havrilla drew a foul in the box. But Aceves, the Bears’ leading scorer, tied the game in the 82nd minute to force the eventual overtime. Phoenix, the West District champion, improved to 14-1-2.
In the opening of pool play, STLCC scored the game’s first five goals against Pearl River. Daniel Dixon and Kistmann gave the Archers a 2-0 lead at intermission, and Alexander Gatto, Yedipen Bayilli and Faraj Hussein Shee scored in the second half. Pereira came within nine minutes of earning a shutout.
The champion of the 12-team tournament at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson will be decided this weekend.
STLCC’s tournament run started in October, when the team defeated State Fair Community College of Sedalia, Missouri, 3-1 and St. Charles Community College. 1-0 to win the Region 16 title. The Archers then defeated the two Central District finalists on Nov. 3-4. In the first game Nicolas Justiniano’s goal in the 74th minute broke a 1-1 tie in a 3-1 victory over National Park College of Arkansas. The next day STLCC defeated Heartland College of Normal, Illinois, 2-0 on goals by Gabriel Carneiro and Giuseppe Gereau to earn their trip to nationals.
The team finished with a record of 13-5-3