There easily could have been a number of excuses for the Triton College men's soccer team entering their Region 4 Division II quarterfinal game Oct. 30 in River Grove against Moraine Valley Community College.
The Trojans arrived home early Friday morning after winning at Carl Sandburg College to complete a stretch of winning three games in four days to earn the top seed entering the postseason.
However, after a sluggish first half that saw Triton down 1-0, the Trojans found their legs and rallied to pull off a thrilling 2-1 come-from behind overtime victory over the No. 4 seeded Cyclones to improve to 14-2 overall.
Konrad Madej punched in a right footer from 10 yards out with three minutes remaining to spark a massive celebration.
Christian Martinez set up the goal with an excellent feed from the outside.
"That was one of the best goals we've had all season," Triton head coach
Piotr Sliwa said about the game winner. "Its playoff soccer and we did enough to move on."
The tired legs after a busy week showed early on as Moraine Valley (8-5) got on the board with a Gustavo Alvarez goal with eight minutes left in the first half to go into halftime up 1-0.
Triton came out more aggressive in the second half, dominating ball possession and play but had nothing to show for it as a pair of shots hit off the crossbar and one off the post.
Eventually, the pressure finally made the Cyclones break and Triton tied the game on a goal by
Dino Maljevic in traffic with 20 minutes remaining in regulation.
"They were defending in the second half with a 1-0 lead and we had a lot of chances," Sliwa said. "With the guys we have, we never give up. It doesn't matter what the score is or how much time is left, they will fight to the end and knew once we tied the game would win it.'
Next up for the NJCAA No. 19, rated Trojans is familiar foe in the semifinals, Morton College. The Panthers, (14-3) ranked No. 6 in the nation by NJCAA knocked off South Suburban 3-2 in their quarterfinal game.
Triton will look to avenge a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Morton Sept. 25 in Cicero.
"We know (Morton) will come in with a lot of confidence since they've beat us once already," Sliwa said. "I thought we got off to bad a start in the first half and by the time we started playing the way we should, we're down 2-0. But we are also playing with a lot of confidence and excited to get the rematch on our home field."
The regional semifinal with Morton will be played Tuesday, Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. at Triton's Multi-Purpose Stadium. If you cannot make it to the game, it will be streamed live on the Triton College YouTube channel.
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