College Sports

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer

Yavapai College took a six-pack home to Prescott, Ariz.

The No. 2 Roughriders bottled their sixth national championship in men's soccer with a shootout victory over No. 1 Georgia Perimeter in Sunday's NJCAA final at Pat Hartley Field on the Tyler Junior College campus.

Yavapai's Justin Meram forced overtime by kicking in a goal off a Camilo Valencia throw-in with 2:04 left in regulation, making the score 3-3.

The Roughriders controlled the first 10-minute overtime period but did not score. Georgia Perimeter had a near-goal at 8:40 of the second overtime, and then Yavapai put together a good run late before the teams headed to a shootout.

"This beautiful chamber of commerce weather here in Tyler, Texas (took) its toll on players on both teams," said Yavapai head coach Mike Pantalione, referring to the warm and sunny November afternoon. "To eventually force the match into overtime, there were a lot of heavy legs out there."

Even the regulation shootout wasn't enough to decide a winner as each team scored three times out of five penalty kicks.

All that separated Georgia Perimeter from the national title was a goal in the final round of the shootout, but Chris Ugarte's kick skimmed over the crossbar to send the match to an extra session of penalty kicks, only this one closer to sudden death.

Evan McNiel scored on Yavapai's first attempt, but Paul Wiesboeck netted the equalizer for the Jaguars.

Yavapai took the lead again on Dirk Petersen's goal on the next go-round, and Georgia Perimeter could not match it as keeper Sam Hayden smothered a shot by Brett Witlin to end the game.

Yavapai (23-2-1) has now won three national titles in each of the last two decades under Pantalione - the first since 2003.

Georgia Perimeter, the 2005 champion, ended the '07 campaign with a record of 21-0-3.

"Georgia Perimeter was deserving of the No. 1 ranking all season and they played three very good matches in the tournament," Pantalione said. "In a shootout, anything can happen."

Although Yavapai controlled the first half, the Jaguars got on the board first when Marcelo Aguire booted in a goal from 40 yards despite the keeper being in position to stop it.

Meram tied it for the Roughriders with 11:12 left in the first half and it was 1-1 at the break.

Yavapai executed a 2-1 lead four minutes into the second half when Colby Swensen crossed to Francis Khamis, who scored inside 10 yards.

It took Georgia Perimeter only three minutes to draw even on a header by Michael Mecerod. The Jaguars continued to control the second half and eventually took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Bediako Swan with 3:58 left in regulation.

Notes: Jefferson (Mo.) and Illinois Central tied 2-2 in the consolation final. Marshalltown (Iowa) captured third place with a 1-0 win over San Jacinto. The goal occurred with 28:34 left in the first half. ... Yavapai's Meram, who scored two goals in the championship final, was voted MVP of the tournament while Pantalione won the coaching award. Making all-tournament were Olukorede Aiyegbusi of CCBC-Essex (Md.); Lance Decosta and Mecerod of Georgia Perimeter; Brian Santos of Illinois Central; Claudio Dantas of Jefferson; Arkenson Neckels and Saulo Litterio of Marshalltown; Victor Hernandez of Mercer County (N.J.); Leon Williams of San Jacinto; and Khamis and Hayden of Yavapai. CCBC-Essex won the sportsmanship award. ... Next year's national tournament will be held in Phoenix, Ariz., after eight years in Tyler. "The Tyler Junior College athletic department has done a fantastic job with this tournament over eight years," Pantalione said. "They upgraded the standard tremendously ..." ... The tournament will be held in Trenton, N.J., in 2009 before coming back to Tyler in 2010.

YAVAPAI’S Justin Meram jumps into the arms of a teammate after scoring a goal in Yavapai’s win over Georgia Perimeter Sunday at Pat Hartley Field.
((Staff Photo By Mark Roberts))