T-Birds finish season with 1-0 win against Coyotes; qualify for playoffs
Rene Gomez
Mesa Community College’s men’s soccer team defeated the Chandler-Gilbert Coyotes 1-0 on Oct. 26 away from home.
The win was exactly what the team needed to qualify for the ACCAC Region I Playoffs, and for the first time in six years.
It is also the team’s seventh consecutive winning season dating back to 2006.
The T-Birds overall regular season record to end the year is 10-8-2 and they finished 6th in conference play.
Chandler-Gilbert won the previous match 2-1 on Sept. 21 at John D. Riggs Stadium so the T-Birds not only wanted to win to make the playoffs, but they also wanted to even the series 1-1 for this season against the Coyotes.
In a 1-0 match defense is the key, and the T-Birds defense has been reliable all season long with the leadership of freshman goalkeeper Kendyl Day. This was Day’s 6th shutout for the year and he ranks second in the conference.
The lone goal came from freshman midfielder Alex Gutierrez (his 1st of the season) in the 87th minute, and the Coyotes could not answer before regulation ended.
For the game, the T-Birds had nine shots on goal, and were led by freshman defender Dayne Johnson (3).
Day finished with 7 saves, giving him a total of 127 and a .799 save percentage to end the regular season.
Day’s numbers, 2nd in wins (10), 4th in save percentage, 1st in saves, and 5th in goals against average, puts him in contention for ACCAC goalkeeper of the year.
Day also played more minutes, and started more games than any other goalkeeper in the conference.
The T-Birds leading scorer, sophomore forward Kaue Martins, was unable to play due to injury.
Freshman forward Julian Galvan was already out with an appendectomy from the week before so missing those two strikers meant the team needed the rest of the healthy players to step up.
The T-Birds played their playoff game against Pima on Oct. 28 in Tucson.
Mesa lost that game 2-0.
