AWC in the Final Four

Matadors men's soccer national semifinals preview

YUMA, Ariz., (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona Western College Men's Soccer is licking it's wounds going into the national semifinals.

For the 1st time in program history, the Matadors have won 2 straight matches in the NJCAA Tournament and have punched their ticket to the National Final Four.

But, Wednesday's win over the 2nd seeded Cowley Bengals came with a heavy price tag in multiple injuries.

The physical play of that match ended up placing Lachlan Brooks, Federico Carranza, Ernie Garca, and Ridwane Boukraa on the Mat's injury list.

It's not known whether any of these 4 AWC standouts will be healthy enough to play in Friday's semifinal.

But, a lot of credit for their advancement has to go to the Mats battle tested mentality they've adopted since their district final loss to top ranked Salt Lake.

"That was a good, humbling experience for a lot of our guys. When you're unbeaten and you get beaten, that's a real problem. You know, it challenges your psychology. It was good. I said, you know, nobody's perfect. And you just have to keep fighting, and so it was good. We learned a lot about character and teamwork and being teammates. We were playing on a field we didn't really like, but now we've won two games on the turf. So we get to go switch over to the grass on Friday. So I'm really excited about that. I think our guys are more grass players than turf players to be honest."

Kenny Dale - AWC Matadors Men's Head Soccer Coach

The Mats will face 3rd seeded Iowa Western in the national semifinals in Tyler, Texas.

Kickoff will be at 2 pm Mountain time.