Men's Soccer earns two impressive Region 4 wins

Division II men's soccer in the Region 4 is considered one of the deepest and toughest in the entire NJCAA. The Triton College men's soccer team was on the doorstep of being nationally ranked before a scoreless draw with Joliet Junior College and a pair of tough losses to regional contenders Madison College and Carl Sandburg College.

However, the Trojans answered the bell this past week with a pair of key regional wins on the road October 1 at Rock Valley College (3-2) and a 5-1 trouncing of Morton College October 4 in River Grove.

"We responded with a really good road win at Rock Valley and we're even better (tonight) against solid regional opponent in Morton," said Triton head coach Piotr Sliwa. "Putting five on the board against them is never easy."

The win at Rock Valley was close throughout as second half goals from Gustavo Herrera and Enzo Dagatti gave the Trojans a 2-1 lead with 25 minutes left. The Golden Eagles would draw even in the 68^th minute before Giovanni Alvarez scored the game-winner in the 73^rd minute for Triton.

Against Morton, the Trojans fell behind 1-0 three minutes into the contest before reeling off five unanswered goals.

Alvarez tied the game off an assist from Kacper Kuczynski in the 25^th minute. Then Emir Heto gave Triton the lead for good with a strike in the 42^nd minutes as the Trojans enjoyed a 2-1 advantage at the intermission.

Triton would tack on three more goals in the second half, taking advantage of Morton playing down a man due to a second yellow card. Herrera followed by Alvarez for his second goal of the game made it 4-1 in favor of the Trojans with 10 minutes to play.

Akli Akkouche added the icing on the cake with a goal in the 85^th minute to complete the scoring.

"It looks it going to be a tough game falling behind so early," Sliwa said. But we fought hard and just like that we got one, two and three goals. That gave us a chance to get some of our bench in and they played well."

The Trojans have a mark of 8-2-3 with five games remaining in the regular season. Triton will be on the road Saturday, October 11 at South Suburban College. Game time is 2:30 p.m.

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