Riverland Community College Men's Soccer captured a three-peat when they won in penalty kicks over Minnesota West in the NJCAA Region 13 Championship on Sunday evening.
Minnesota West struck first in the 27th minute, taking an early 1-0 advantage. Riverland responded before halftime when Abdullahi Atanda Aderogba (Lagos, Nigeria) found the back of the net in the 38th minute, assisted by Josh Jones (Wirral, England) and Owen Spaeth (Rochester, MN), leveling the match at 1-1.
The Blue Devils took the lead early in the second half as Flynn Perry (Farnham, England) scored in the 55th minute, again set up by Jones—his second assist of the day.
The Blue Devils controlled the game for the majority of the time until the 89th minute, when Minnesota West scored a late equalizer, forcing extra time between the two evenly matched squads.
Both teams battled for two ten-minute periods throughout overtime, trying to find the golden goal, but remained tied, which brought the Region Championship to a penalty kick shootout.
Riverland missed their first, but Blue Devils goalkeeper Ricardo Guedez (Guanare-Portuguesa, Venezuela) came up with a massive save on Minnesota West's first kick, to keep the shootout at 0-0. After both teams made their next two kicks, Riverland stepped up for kick four, with Flynn Perry sending it past the West keeper to give the Blue Devils a 3-2 lead. Guedez then made another spectacular save for Riverland on the Blue Jays' fourth kick. Captain Nelson Powell (Frankston, Australia) headed to the spot next and rolled the ball past the West keeper to take the PK score to 4-2 and ensure a Riverland victory.
"Ricky came up huge for us in the penalty shootout. Those two saves were so important," said Riverland head coach Frank Spaeth. "And after an unfortunate save of our first attempt, we found our stride and Josh, Abdi, Flynn, and Nelson were all able to keep their cool find the back of the net."
Riverland won the PK battle to send themselves to their third straight NJCAA District Championship.
Riverland will host the Joilet Wolves (Illinois), whom they faced in the Midwest District Final last season, on Saturday, November 1, at 3:00 PM for a chance to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament in New York. The NJCAA National Tournament is hosted at Herkimer College from November 11-16.
Release courtesy of Riverland Community College Athletics.
About the Minnesota College Athletic Conference
The Minnesota College Athletic Conference is the organizational body for NJCAA-affiliated two-year technical and community college athletic programs in the Minnesota State system. The mission of the Minnesota College Athletic Conference is to advance intercollegiate athletics by providing an engaging and supportive environment for success of our student athletes and competition among member institutions. The MCAC is committed to the guiding principles of encouraging the development and success of student athletes, promoting the integrity, honesty and loyalty to member schools as well as upholding the sustainability of conference athletic programs.