AWC Soccer ready for the national semifinals

Arizona Western men's and women's soccer will both play in the NJCAA semifinals tomorrow.

WICHITA, Kan. (KYMA, KECY) - Arizona Western College men's and women's soccer are each two wins away from a national title.

The men are playing in the NJCAA semifinal for the third consecutive season. The previous two seasons saw the Matadors lose in the national championship.

At this years tournament, AWC won their opening two matches 1-0 over Casper College and 3-0 over LSU-Eunice. The Matadors have had to adjust to playing in different playing conditions, such as a turf surface. Injuries plagued AWC in the previous years, but this year head coach Kenny Dale says the team is relatively healthy with no major problems heading into the semis.

However, Dale believes his team needs to be more aggressive in the final third if they want to bring a trophy back to Yuma.

"I think we need to shoot more when we have the opportunity and we will have more success," Dale said. "Many of our team players are very unselfish to a point where they will not shoot when they have an opportunity and play it to somebody else to have a shot, which I appreciate from a team cohesion perspective. But there is a time when you need to pull the trigger yourself". 

The Lady Matadors won both of their pool matches by way of penalty kicks. They fell behind in both matches. AWC was able to equalize and grind it out through two overtime periods.

The Lady Matadors have a lot of miles on their legs, but they are going to need to run a few more.

"Hey we didn't come to visit," interim head coach Victor Verdugo said. "As a coach you need to be able to connect with the player to get that little bit extra out of them because I need you continue to work and continue to work. And the message being positive as far as you got to stay focused. I know you are tired I just need a little bit more."

The men will be facing Tyler Community College at 2 pm MST. The women will be playing Eastern Florida at 10:30 am MST.