It isn't how you start, but how you finish. And for the Triton College men's soccer team, they finished strong in their opening round game of the Region 4 Division II Tournament Oct. 29 against Moraine Valley Community College at the Jorndt Athletic Complex Multi-Purpose Stadium.
After falling behind 2-0 early in the first half, the No. 7 seed Trojans reeled off four unanswered goals, with the last three scored during the final 25 minutes in a 4-2 victory.
Triton (12-4-3) will advance the regional quarterfinals and visit Carl Sandburg College this Saturday (Nov. 1) at Noon in Galesburg.
The Trojans came out flat at the start as Dawid Kurzeja and Fernando Alverez each scored in the first 15 minutes to give the No. 10 seed Cyclones a stunning 2-0 lead.
However, Triton chipped away and started to gain momentum midway through the first half.
Giovanni Alvarez had a free kick chance hit off the crossbar, but
Enzo Dagatti was at the right place at the right time to clean up the rebound and put the Trojans on the board to cut the Moraine Valley (6-7-2) lead in half.
The game remained 2-1 deep into the second half when the Cyclones committed a foul in the box to setup
Emir Heto to draw the match even on a penalty kick in the 65
th minute.
Shortly after the Heto equalizer, Moraine Valley went down a man after one of the Cyclones got called for his second yellow and Triton took advantage as Heto would bury the game-winner in the 81
st minute, followed by an insurance goal from Alvarez in the 88
th minute to conclude the scoring.
"It definitely was not the way we wanted to start, especially in a playoff game," said Triton head coach
Piotr Sliwa. "I think when we scored on the free kick to make it 2-1, I felt like we were going to comeback. You can see it in the guys and how they responded from that point. We easily could have put our heads down 2-0, it was an unbelievable effort."
Now the Trojans will face a tough task on the road in the quarterfinals at Sandburg. The Chargers (12-2-3) defeated Triton 3-1 in the team's lone regular season meeting Sept. 28 in River Grove. But Sliwa hopes last years postseason history can repeat itself when the Trojans rolled into Galesburg last Halloween and dominated in a 4-0 shutout.
"That was probably our worst effort of the year," he said of the meeting earlier this season. "We know having to travel out there will be a challenge. But I think our guys understand what is at stake and we'll be ready to compete."
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