Aztecs Men's Soccer Advance to National Semifinals, Beat Lewis & Clark CC

The Pima Community College men's soccer team (21-3-2) played with urgency and it paid off on Wednesday in the final game of pool play.

The No. 4 seeded Aztecs defeated No. 5 Lewis & Clark Community College (IL) 4-1 to advance to the NJCAA National Tournament semifinals. This is the first time in tournament history a team that has to win by two goals or more has done so on the final day of pool play. The Aztecs got their 21^st win of the season which is the most in program history. It is also Pima's first trip to the national semifinals since 1999.

Sophomore Jason Romero put the Aztecs on the board in the 29^th minute when he turned-around his defender and hit a shot with his left foot. Sophomore Angel Heredia scored a goal on a free kick that found the upper left corner of the net to put Pima up 2-0 in the 35^th minute. Romero converted on another Lewis & Clark foul as he scored his second goal off a penalty kick in the 39^th minute to make it 3-0.

In the second half, freshman Julian Borceguin netted his goal in the 56^th minute to help seal their spot in the semifinals. Lewis & Clark scored in the 72^nd minute.

The Aztecs outshot Lewis & Clark CC 11-4 for the game. Freshman Taylor Anderson (Salpointe Catholic HS) finished with two saves and freshman James McWilliams (Sahauro HS) had one save.

The Aztecs will play No. 1 seed Louisburg College (21-1) on Friday at 4:30 p.m. (ET), 2:30 p.m. Tucson time. Catch the live stream of the game on the NJCAA website:

http://www.njcaa.org/sports/msoc/2015-16/div1/national_championship/index

Pima goals: Romero 29^th minute; Heredia 35^th minute; Romero (penalty kick) 39^th minute; Borceguin 56^th minute.

Julian Borceguin/Photo by Ben Carbajal 2015