(Tucson, AZ) The Pima Community College women’s soccer team (13-4) is moving on to the NJCAA Region I, Division II Championship game for the second straight year after beating Scottsdale Community College (10-3-2) in dramatic fashion on Tuesday at the West Campus Aztec Soccer Field.
The No. 2 seeded Aztecs defeated the No. 3 Fighting Artichokes 1-0 in double overtime. Sophomore Alyssa Kopach (Ironwood Ridge HS) recovered a ball just inside the box and hit her shot that sailed over the Scottsdale goalkeeper’s right shoulder with 1:15 left before the teams would have gone to penalty kicks.
Player’s Quote: “We were knocking on the door pretty much ever since we went into overtime and we finally finished one at the net,” Kopach said. “We kept trying to get the ball wide.
“Scottsdale is always a really good competitor for us. We always know we have to come out hard and they come out just as hard at us. ‘Stronger Together’ is our motto this year and we did that. We all just work hard for each other and we all deserve this win.”
This is Pima’s eighth shutout win of the season. The Aztecs finished with nine shots on goal and sophomore Angelina Amparano (Salpointe Catholic HS) finished with seven saves.
The Aztecs will play No. 4 seed Mesa Community College on Saturday in the NJCAA Region I, Division II Finals. The Thunderbirds upset No. 1 seed Phoenix College 2-1 in the other semifinal match-up. Start time is TBD.
Player’s Quote: “Mesa is not going to take it easy on us. We’re going to have to come out even harder. We both just played a really hard game so it’s going to be a good match-up,” Kopach said.
Pima goal: Alyssa Kopach 109th minute.
Press Release courtesy of Pima Athletics – Raymond Suarez
