Southern heartbreakers! Arizona Western stuns Tyler in overtime

Luis Ortner's overtime goal sends Arizona Western back to the NJCAA DI National semifinals

MELBOURNE, Fla. ( KYMA, KECY-TV ) - For the second year in a row, the Arizona Western men's soccer team is in the NJCAA DI national semi-finals. For the second year in a row, Arizona Western was the #7 seed and for the second year in a row, Arizona Western knocked off the #2 seed.

Arizona Western got on the scoreboard first on a goal from Shoki Yoshida just over five minutes into play. The Matadors held the 1 - 0 lead to the 88th minute before Tyler tied the game, sending the final game in pool play into overtime.

"Obviously that game the opponent [Tyler] a boost," AWC head coach Kenny Dale said. "They felt really good about it and we said hey, we're still in the game, we can win the game with one goal."

In the 95th minute, AWC's Luis Ortner found the back of the net off a deflected shot off the foot of teammate Terry Makedika.

"Terry cut in and made a really good shot that I think would've been in on it's own but I think it hit the bottom of one of their defenders shoes," Dale said. "That kept it low, their keeper dove and saved it, it was a rebound and Luis Ortner slid in and tucked it in."

The Matadors survived and now find themselves in the final four for the second year in a row.

It's just really exciting, it's the second year in a row

AWC Head coach Kenny Dale

"The veteran guys who were here last year were talking about that [deja' vu] alot," Dale said. "Rankings are always nice but you have upsets that happen and technically it's an upset but we feel like we can compete with any team in the country."

The Matadors will now have a day of rest before getting back to work in the semifinal on Thursday.

"We'll use the off day to plan, rest and talk about things," Dale said. "We're going to watch the rocket launch tonight, we have one near our hotel so that will be exciting for the guys to see a kind of one in a lifetime kind of thing. We're all very excited about that."

Arizona Western will see their rival (4) Salt Lake on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. EST