Early Strikes Lift Trojans to Region IV Championship Game

It was more quick offense for the Triton College men's soccer team to start their NJCAA Region IV Division III semifinal game Oct. 22 in River Grove against Rock Valley College. In a blink of an eye, the Trojans scored a pair of goals within the first five minutes en route to 5-1 victory.

The No. 6 NJCAA ranked Trojans (17-1) move on to the NJCAA Region IV Championship and have a date with NJCAA No. 8 ranked Harper College (15-1) Saturday at the East Campus Athletic Complex multi-purpose field. If you can't make it to the game, it will be streamed live on the Triton College YouTube channel.

Leading scorer Christopher Modzejewski (St. Patrick) added to his All-American candidacy with his 21^st goal of the season in the second minute. Then the Trojans continued to put the early heat on the No. 4 seeded Golden Eagles (7-8-1) when Fernando Alvarado (Lane Tech) found the back of the net three minutes later to give Triton a fast 2-0 lead.

The offense stalled the remainder of the first half, but the Trojans jumped out of the gate after halftime as 2018 NJCAA All-American Michal Szaflarski (Oak Lawn) scored one minute into the second half to make it 3-0.

Didier Reyes (Soto Academy) would make the cushion 4-0 with a goal in the 65^th minute before Rock Valley scored their only tally in the 75^th minute. Szarflarski would add one final goal late to finish the scoring.

"We started each of our playoff games with two goals in the first five minutes," said head coach Piotr Sliwa. "However, like the last game, we dropped off and we've got to fix that. It's great to start the games the way we have, but we need to keep that same energy throughout the game."

The top-seeded Trojans will be in for a test against the No. 2 seed Hawks of Harper on Saturday. The teams have split both regular season meetings, with the road team victorious in each contest. Triton lost 2-0 at home on Aug. 31 before taking the rematch 4-0 Sept. 25 in Palatine.

"It's the two best teams in the region playing for a championship," said Sliwa. "I think early on in the season you can tell that it may come down between us and Harper. It should be a great game."

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