Thunderbirds Take It To Overtime
Mesa Community College’s (MCC) men’s soccer team competed against Phoenix College last Saturday in a home game that marked the eleventh game of the season. The Thunderbirds lost five minutes into overtime when a scramble on their side of the field allowed a member of the Bears to shoot into the far corner of the goal and score.
This loss marks the fourth for the season for the Thunderbirds, and the second against the Bears this season.
“We played well tonight,” Brian Ronan, head coach for men’s soccer at MCC, said. “That’s one of the top ten ranked teams in the nation. Last time we played them they beat us five to nothing. We lost off of a free kick in overtime and that was extremely well struck and deflected into the corner. To compete and have a chance to win against a good team, that’s pretty much all we can ask for.”
The game turned into a tense standoff with no goals scored until over-time. The Thunderbirds emphasized controlled plays and keeping the ball outside of the middle of the field. Athletes from the Bears were technically sound and knew how to keep pressure on the other team.
When asked about team strategy Ronan replied, “To try to defend and hang on for as long as possible and to make sure that we avoided the middle of the field as much as we could and try to create as many scoring opportunities from wide areas as we possibly could.”
Moises Durazo was highlighted by other members of the team for his excellence during the match.
“As a team we played really well. We worked hard out there. We kept them fighting and competing and held them to the end,” Durazo said.
When asked about what steps the team could take to move forward Durazo replied, “We just got to keep working hard. Work harder every week. Try to win as many games as we can to make play-offs and see where we go from there.”
The Thunderbirds will face off against Scottsdale Community College on Thursday for the 12th game of the season. The Fighting Artichokes previously defeated the Thunderbirds in a 2-1 battle which took place on September 12th. This re-match offers the Thunderbirds an opportunity to refine the strategies that has propelled them to the 7-4 win to loss ratio they have.
