Mats fall to Yavapai
AWC winless streak reaches 3
An energetic and packed crowd was on hand for the top-15 men’s soccer showdown between the No. 14 Arizona Western Matadors and the No. 15 Yavapai Roughriders.
The first 45 minutes provided opportunities for each club, with AWC missing on several shots and the Matadors’ goalkeeper, Duro Dragicevic, making a couple sweet saves to preserve a halftime tie.
Then, in the 49th minute,
YAV: 13-3 overall, 6-2 conf. AWC: 10-4-2 overall, 5-2-1 conf.
Yavapai’s Tucker Fenton recovered a bouncing rebound, turned and laced a shot by Dragicevic for the night’s opening goal in the Roughriders’ 2-0 victory.
Fenton appeared to be offsides but the referees missed a blatant call that produced
momentum for the visitors.
AWC defenders franticly searched for an explanation, but despite the outrage from both players and fans, the call didn’t change.
This isn’t the first time coach Kenny Dale has been on the wrong side of a missed call.
“It doesn’t surprise me. We’ve come to expect it,” he said. “I’d be interested to see the replay. It’s par for the course. We’ve dealt with it here and there.”
The pivotal no-call didn’t spark a fire in the Matadors team (10-4-2 overall, 5-2-1 ACCAC) on sophomore night; instead, they had a letdown moment allowing Yuma native Enrique Zamora to score three minutes later for Yavapai (13-3, 6-2).
As frustrations grew each minute for the Matadors, their opportunity for a comeback began to fade.
“When you lose concentration for half a second against good teams, that’s it,” Dale said. “And that’s what we did. Went to sleep for a couple minutes, you wake up and all of a sudden you’re down. We emphasized defense at the half, but we didn’t defend.”
The Matadors’ offense, which has been held to one goal or less during the team’s current three-game winless streak, had ample opportunities to score the ball on Thursday. But it was the Roughriders’ goalkeeper, Logan Rabasca, who held the AWC offense in check.
The Matadors had 10 corner kicks in the game, but never could find that groove they’ve been seeking the last two weeks.
Once in first place not long ago, the Matadors have dropped to third in the conference standings.
However, Dale doesn’t have any concern with the offensive unit heading into the final two games of the regular season.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We have some challenges to work through. Need to strike when we have the opportunity and finishing our chances. We certainly create chances, I like the way we’re creating chances, but we’re not finishing them. Probably a little more in training and we will go from there.”
The Matadors lost on sophomore night, in which they recognized Yuma natives, Esteban Franco and Arturo Ledezma among the other 11 sophomores on the roster.
Dale expressed his gratitude for these young men that will soon depart AWC.
“It’s been great having these guys,” he said. “They’ve contributed a lot, built us to a spot where we’ve maintained our position in the top three teams in the league. It’s just a matter of seeing them on their way and finish up academically and getting them onto their next stop. That’s the most exciting for me, seeing where they go from here.”
The Matadors’ quest for a top-four or potentially top-two seed in the Region I playoffs will continue as they visit Scottsdale on Saturday before heading to Pima Community College for the regular-season finale on Wednesday.