College Sports

By CHRIS PARRY
Staff Writer

Seeded No. 1 and No. 2 entering play at the NJCAA Men's Division I Soccer Tournament, Georgia Perimeter and Yavapai (Ariz.) backed it up.

Both top seeds cruised to semifinal victories Friday on the second day of play at Tyler Junior College's Pat Hartley Soccer Complex.

Georgia Perimeter proved too much for San Jacinto in the first semifinal with a 3-1 victory. Yavapai had an even easier time with Marshalltown (Iowa), coasting to a 3-0 victory.

The victories set up a Georgia-Arizona final at 1 p.m. Sunday to determine the NJCAA national champion. The third-place match is slated for 11 a.m. Sunday and will feature San Jacinto and Marshalltown.

In the consolation bracket, Jefferson College (Mo.) defeated CCBC-Essex (Md.) 3-0, with Illinois Central outlasting Mercer County (N.J.) 4-3 in double overtime.

GP held San Jac without a shot on goal in the first half while the Jaguars grabbed a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute on a beautifully headed goal from Cesar Tejera. The cross came in from Victor Florez and Tejera headed it back across the face of goal, leaving San Jac keeper Gabriel Rodriguez helpless to watch it into the net.

GP doubled its lead early in the second half when Michael Mecerod stole the ball away and hammered a blast past a diving Rodriguez from just outside the box.

The Coyotes, now down 2-0, began to apply their own pressure and were rewarded with a goal. Xavier Medrano took a shot, forcing GP's keeper to deflect it right to Rogelio Hernandez, who tapped it into the empty net.

San Jac pressed for the equalizer, but was done in by a counter attack from GP. Rodriguez was able to deflect the chip by Bediako Swan, but it came back out to Alpha Diallo, who lofted it back into the empty net.

The Roughriders went in front midway through the first half, thanks to a strong individual effort by Justin Meram. Meram stole a pass and raced down the sideline before blasting a curling effort into the top right corner.

Yavapai doubled its lead late in the second half when Duarte fed Irving Garcia, who sidestepped the Marshalltown goalkeeper and fired it into the empty net. This gave Yavapai a 2-0 lead with 15 minutes left to play.

The Roughriders ended any doubt three minutes later when Duarte set up Francis Khamis, who side footed his shot over the goalkeeper for the 3-0 win.

Three different Jefferson players scored goals with Hassan Ibrahim taking advantage of a pass from Joseph Demosthene in the 6th minute. Jefferson made it 2-0 in the second half on a goal by Claudio Dantas from an assist by Jesus Jimenez. Jonathan Pfaff completed the scoring for the 3-0 win.

Illinois Central 4, Mercer County 3 (2 OT)

Illinois Central rallied from deficits of 1-0 and 3-1 to force overtime and win the match on a goal from Brian Santos, his third of the day. Santos gave IC the lead in the 10th minute on a pass from Putu Zinnah. Mercer County responded with three unanswered goals, two of them by Victor Hernandez. The third was from Lamin Sidibeh on an assist by Hernandez.

Trailing 3-1, IC cut its deficit to one goal thanks to an unassisted tally from Matthew Head. Santos tied the match with four minutes left and ended it in the second overtime to complete his hat trick.

NJCAA SOCCER: San Jacinto’s Dervin Kinkead (left) battles with Georgia Perimeter’s Michael Mecerod in their semifinal contest Friday at Pat Hartley Field.
((Staff Photo By Herb Nygren Jr.))