Arizona Western men’s and women’s soccer continue quest for national titles

AWC men's and women's soccer both win opening match of the NJCAA tournament.

WICHITA, Kan. (KYMA, KECY) - Both the Arizona Western College men's and women's soccer teams were victorious in their opening matches of the NJCAA tournament.

The men won 1-0 over Casper College on Sunday. Terry Makedika scored the match winner in the 57th minute for the Matadors, who came into the tournament as the number one seed.

"There is a difference between intensity and insanity. or urgency and panic," AWC head coach Kenny Dale said on preparing his team to make a run in the tournament. "Urgency is ok. Intensity is ok, but panic or insanity is not what we are looking for. So, it is a matter of making sure that our players are psychologically composed in the faces of very serious physical, technical and tactical challenges."

The women took down Navarro College on penalty kicks on Monday. The match was tied 1-1 after normal time and over-time.

"The girls were able to find a spark in the last minute on a free kick," interim head coach Victor Verdugo said. "Something we talked about and discussed. That's how these things go its a growing moment for the girls. As we talked about, its a team that found itself just like in the region final behind with our season on the line and we had a special player step up, take the free kick and put us back in the match. Then battled through overtime and went to pks."

Both squads are back on the pitch tomorrow. The men are taking on LSU-Eunice at 9:00 am MST. The women will face Monroe Community College at 2.