AWC men’s soccer falls in national semifinals

Arizona Western College men's soccer season comes to an end in the national semifinals after loss to Tyler CC.

WICHITA, Kan. (KYMA, KECY) - Tyler Community College beat Arizona Western College 4-3 in the NJCAA semifinals on Wednesday.

Tyler CC advances to the national championship. AWC is eliminated and fails to advance to a third straight title game.

AWC fell behind 2-0 in the first half. Terry Makedika got the Matadors on the board early in the second half, but Tyler answered with consecutive goals to make it 4-1. Makedika scored again and Nick Kinina also got on the scoresheet, but it was not enough, as AWC lost 4-3.

"Our guys showed a lot of courage especially in the second half the way that they fought back," head coach Kenny Dale said. "We scored the last two goals of the game. We never game up. We never got cynical and starting fouling. We kept fighting right to the end and I'm really proud of that even though we didn't defend very well at all."

This season AWC won their region and district, as well as being ranked atop the NJCAA rankings for much of the campaign.

The Matadors will be heading home to Yuma tomorrow.