The last time the Triton College men's soccer team played a competitive match was on October 16 of last year, a heartbreaking 2-1 home playoff loss to Elgin Community College.
So for the coaches and players returning in 2019, the season opener Aug. 22 at Elgin was definitely highlighted on the schedule. Despite, the Trojans extra motivation, it was Elgin who jumped out to a 2-0 lead. But Triton found a way to force overtime with a pair of goals the final 25 minutes of regulation before
Marcin Kieta punched in the game winner two minutes into the extra session to give Triton a 3-2 come from behind victory.
"It wasn't the start we wanted going down 2-0," said Trojan head coach
Piotr Sliwa. "But the guys showed a lot of character to comeback to tie the match and win in overtime against the team that knocked us out of the playoffs last year. So there was definitely some revenge."
Sophomore
Alex Mezyk scored the first two Triton goals on a free kick just out side the box in the 70th minute. Then in the 82nd minute, Mezyk connected on a penalty kick to draw the match even.
Triton enters the season ranked No. 8 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III preseason poll and has 12 returning players. So getting early season chemistry with the freshman was a challenge for game one of the season.
"We have a lot of players returning from last year along with a group of newcomers playing their first college game and can see they were hesitant at times," Sliwa said. "They are still getting to know each other and some of our mistakes today are common for the first game of the year. But in the end we got the win and was proud of the character we showed today."
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